


Klance one shots

by Trashy_fan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Artist Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith x Lance - Freeform, Lance is baby, M/M, except Zarkon, gayer than me, idiots to lovers, its not a tag but it should tbh, klance, like hella gay, so is keith, they’re all baby, this is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:00:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 32,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23278231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trashy_fan/pseuds/Trashy_fan
Summary: These are some Klance one shots, in case you didn’t guess that from the title. I’m not gonna lie, some of them may not be the best but whatever. Enjoy!
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

REQUESTS- 

So, I will take requests, but only Klance ones, because that’s what this fic is for. I might make a general Voltron one later, if any wants, but for now it’s just Klance. 

What I **WILL** do:

  * fluff
  * angst
  * AUs
  * any minor ships you may want to include



What I **WON’T** do:

  * smut
  * under age sorta stuff



Anyway byeeeeeee


	2. Don’t leave me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the battle near Naxela in Season 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones kind of angsts at the start, but gets better.

The fight was a mess of lasers being fired and ships flying around. It had been going on for a while, an attempt to liberate the final planet in the belt. But it was a tough fight, and they were losing, badly. The planet was a bomb, the witch was controlling it,and the cruiser she was on had an impenetrable shield and some sort of weapon. 

“Follow my lead!” Keith commanded the rebels. “We’ve gotta break through that shield to-“ but he was cut off by a laser hitting his wing. ‘Shit’ he thought, looking at the damage. 

Meanwhile, Naxela was preparing to blow. “We’re not gonna make it!” Shouted Lance. 

Alarms were going off in the castle and Coran prayed that they would hurry. 

Matts face appeared on the screen in Keith’s ship. “We’ll never penetrate those shields!” Matt shouted. 

They were losing, and they didn’t think they could win. 

Then it hit him. 

“Maybe not with our weapons.”

He thrust the handles of the ship forward, sending it hurtling towards the shield. 

“Wait Keith! What are you doing?!” Matt shouted, but Keith ignored him.

“What, what?! What’s going on?!” Lance asked hurriedly. His ‘Keith is doing something stupid’ senses were going off, and in battle that was never good. 

“Keith no!” Matter shouted. 

Keith shut his eyes, too scared to look.

“What is going on?!” Lance shouted, getting more worried for his boyfriend by the second. 

“He’s flying himself into the shield!” Matt replies. Lance’s eyes widen and he finds himself unable to speak. 

“What?” Lance mumbles, and suddenly fear takes over him. Flying into the shield would probably kill him. If Keith died, Lance would... he doesn’t know what he’d do. He couldn’t... he just-

There was a large explosion at the shield and Lance couldn’t take it. He let a tear slip as the shield blew up. 

“Huh?!” Keith opened his eyes, confused that he didn’t feel any pain. He saw the explosion and immediately pulled back. 

The shield was penetrated and Naxela was no longer a bomb. They were fine.

****

Later, when the battle was won and everyone had landed back on the castle, Lance broke down in his lion. He couldn’t believe Keith had tried to sacrifice himself like that. Why why why???

He shook with sobs that he desperately tried to quiet, in case he was heard. The last thing he wanted was to be caught crying. 

Keith stepped out of his small ship and into the castle to be greeted by the paladins. At least, all but one. “Where’s Lance?” Keith asked before the others could speak. He’d hoped that he’d be able to see his boyfriend’s face for the first time in months. 

“He’s... I don’t know,” Shiro said slowly, coming to the realisation that Lance hadn’t joined them. “I just presumed he came with us to see you.”

Keith frowned, not knowing if his boyfriend was anywhere from the kitchen to a Galra prison cell. “I’m going to look for him.” He walked away from his ship. 

First things first, his lion. If Lance hadn’t been seen by the others, he probably hadn’t left it. 

Keith walked over to the red lion, looking at it as it stood tall. It’s jaw was closed, meaning there was absolutely no way to get in. “Great,” Keith said sarcastically, “just great.”

Keith sighed, unsure of what to do. “Hey Red, could you open up? Please? I know I’m not your paladin anymore, but I think Lance is in there and I  need to see him. Could you- just... please. Let me in?” There’s a pause, as if Red was thinking about it. Then she leaned down slow and opened her jaw. “Thank you,” Keith said softly, walking through. 

He walked up to the cockpit, and as he got closer, he could hear the slight sobs. Lance was crying. ‘What if he’s hurt? What if something happened out there?’ Keith thought as he rushed towards the pilot’s seat. 

“Lance?” He asked softly as to not startle the boy. He walked round the seat and crouched down on front of Lance to get a slightly better view of him. There were tears streaming down his face and his eyes were red and puffy. “Lance what happened?”

There was no reply. Only silence and sobs. 

“Lance please, tell me what’s wrong and we can fix it,” Keith says, making sure to keep a gentle tone. He slowly removed Lance’s hands from his face, replacing them with his own. He wiped the tears from his cheek gently and moved Lance’s face so that he was facing him. “Tell me wha-“ but was stopped. Not by words, but by the sudden anger in Lance’s eyes. He frowned in confusion. “Lance-“

“You wanna know what’s wrong?” Lance asked angrily, his voice raised. “What’s wrong is you!”

“What did I-“

“What did you do?! Seriously?! Hm, what did you do? Let’s see. Maybe you, oh I don’t know, almost got yourself killed?!” Lance was almost screaming at him now. The tears were streaming down his face much faster now, but neither of the two were sure if they were angry tears or sad tears. “Flying yourself into a shield? Really Keith?” His voice was quieter now. 

“Lance, I-“

“You what? Your sorry? ‘Oh Lance, I’m so sorry I almost died and left you on your own, with no idea what to do with your life or how to move on’,” he mocked. Keith looked to the ground in sadness. 

“Would me... dying really have that big an effect on you?” He asked quietly. 

“What?! ‘Would it have that big an effect on me’! Of course it would! Your my BOYFRIEND FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! YOU HaVE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON ME, ESPECIALLY If you...” he trailed off, his screaming becoming a murmur.

Keith just stared at his boyfriend, shocked at the words that had come out his mouth. Then he engulfed him in a hug, a tight, comforting hug. A hug that told Lance that he was here, really and truly here. And Lance hugged back, letting his tears fall down his face as he did so. 

“I am  so sorry, Lance. I... i didn’t think it through. I saw an opportunity to possibly end the war, and I took it. I didn’t care who or what it had an impact on, as long as there was the chance that it would help end the war,” Keith whispered into his boyfriend’s ear, stroking his hair softly. “I’m sorry. I... I-“

Lance removed himself from the hug and smiled slightly. He knew exactly what his boyfriend was trying to say. “I love you too, Samurai.”

Keith pulled him back into the hug, squeezing him tighter, trying to convey all the emotions he couldn’t say into the hug.

”Come on, let’s go see the other,” he said softly, picking up his boyfriend and leaving the lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that’s my first one shot, so please leave any constructive criticism you may have in the comments!!


	3. Masterpiece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith likes to draw and Lance is smitten. They’re both oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I love Artist!Keith and y’all can fight me

Lance hates Keith. It was simple as that. So why the hell couldn’t his heart understand that? Keith was standoffish, emo , not to mention he has a quiznacking mullet. So why did his heart have to beat so fast whenever Keith so much as brushed against him? Why did the blood have to rush to his cheeks whenever he thinks of him and his beutif- I mean stupid face?

Lance groaned as he flopped onto his bed, stuffing his face into the pillow. He heard a knock on his door. “Lance, buddy, you ok in there?” It was Hunk. “You didn’t come to dinner, so I brought you some food and came to check up on you.”

Lance groaned in response, and apparently that wasn’t reassuring enough for Hunk, because soon his door slid open, and the end of the bed sunk under the weight of another person. “What’s wrong Lance? I haven’t seen you like this since you realised Allura didn’t like you back,” Hunk said, “wait, are you not over her?”

Lance jumped up. “No no no no, I’m over Allura,” he said, immediately getting defensive. It was true, he was over Allura, and he was tired of people presuming he wasn’t. 

“Then what’s going on?”

“I just- I...” Lance struggled to find the right words

“Lance, whatever it is, I won’t judge you. You’re my best friend, and nothing can change that. Ok?” Hunk said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “So just take it slow, and let it out.”

“I just... I’m bi, you know that right?” Lance started. 

“Well duh, I’m pretty sure the whole of the Garrison knew, but what’s that got to do with- you like someone!!” Hunk shouted loudly, causing Lance to put a hand over his mouth, as if the doors weren’t soundproof.

“Hunk!” Lance shouted, but he can feel Hunk vibrating with excitement. “Fine, yes I like someone bu-“

“Who is it?! Is it someone on the ship?! Ooooohhhh is it a boy?! A girl?! Tell! Me! Everything!” Hunk exclaimed, fanning his hands on front of his face.

Lance sighed. He took one look at Hunk’s excited face and decided that telling him would be best. “They’re a boy, and yes he’s in the ship.”

“Ooohhh, who is it? Is it Shiro? That would be weird, to be honest, like he’s-“

“He’s not Shiro!” Lance shouted, cutting off Hunk’s rambling. 

“Well, I’m gonna guess it’s not Coran,” Lance let out a small chuckle, “which leaves me and Keith. I’m gonna presume, since you’re telling me, that it’s Keith you like.”

Lance immediately hid his face in his hands, feeling the familiar heat reaching his cheeks. “Oh my goddddd!!! It is Keith!!” Then a thought hit Hunk. “Wait, if you like him, why do you fight with him?”

“I don’t know,” Lance asks, although his voice was muffled by his hands. He looked up at Hunk and sighed. “I guess it’s because it’s the only way to get his attention.”

“Oh Lance,” Hunk said sympathetically. 

“Shut up,” Lance said jokingly

Then there was a shout from across the hallway

*~*~Meanwhile~*~*

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh at Keith. He had never seen Keith like this. To be honest, he didn’t think Keith had ever seen himself like this. It was hilarious.

“Keithy is having his first cruuuush,” Shiro sang in a mocking tone.

“I will murder you if you don’t stop!” Keith snarled, although the pink flush on his cheeks didn’t quite help his threat.

Shiro smirked. “You should ask him out.”

“WHAT?!?!” Keith shouted loud enough for the rest of the ship to hear. Shiro burst out laughing. There was the sound of footsteps running towards them. 

“Is everything ok?” Lance asked looking around the room for any danger, but all he saw was a creased over Shiro and a red-faced Keith. 

“Uh... yeah. Yeah, we’re all gay- I MEAN GREAT!” Keith stated, unusually loud. 

“I mean we are-“ bit Shiro was cut off by a pillow to the face. Keith glared at him, and mikes cut off his head. “Anywayyy, Hunk, we should go, I want to discuss some... stuff with you.”

“Yeah, lets do that,” Hunk said, leaving the room quickly

Shiro sped out the room with him, ruffing Keith’s hair as he walked away. Keith just glared at him. Lance raised an eyebrow curiously, watching as his best friend left him... with his crush. Lance smirked, realising immediately why Hunk was so quick to leave. _Thanks for leaving me Hunk,_ he thought, as he stood there, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly in the silence. 

“So, Mullet. We haven’t... spoken in a while,” Lance started. Keith just looked at him suspiciously.

“Cool, great talk,” Lance said, doing an awkward thumbs up. Keith just stared at him, and Lance could feel his cheeks beating up the longer he stared. “Is there something on my face?”

“Huh?” that seemed to pull Keith out of his daze. “Oh no, no no no. I’m just daydreaming. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” And then it was silent again. A horrible awkward silence. Lance couldn’t take it. “Wanna play a game or something?”

“A game?”

“Yeah, you know, a fun act-“

“I know what a game is Lance,” Keith snapped. Lance just raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap I just-“

“It’s fine, Keith. So, wanna play a game?”

“Which game?”

“Truth or dare?”

Keith nodded, and the game began. It was awkward at first, and the question were simple ones like ‘what’s your favourite colour’ or ‘do a handstand’ but as the game went on, the questions became more personal. 

“Truth or dare, Mullet?” Lance asked with a smirk

“Truth,” Keith said after a moments hesitation. Lance thought about for a second before having an idea. 

“Tell me one thing that no one on the team knows about.”

That was hard. Sure, there was lots of stuff that  most of the team didn’t know, but Shiro was a big obstacle. He’s been there for the majority of Keith’s life, so knew pretty much everything about him, whether Keith had just straight out told him, or if he’d just figured it out on his own. There was just one thing that Keith was pretty sure Shiro didn’t know.

“I draw a lot in my spare time,” Keith said finally. 

Lance cocked his head to the side curiously. “Can I see?” 

Keith hesitated. His drawings weren’t something he showed people, and, if he was honest, they weren’t good. “You don’t have to show me,” Lance said quickly, noticing his hesitation. “I’m just interested is all.”

“Sure, I’ll show you,” Keith said finally, much to Lance (and his own) surprise. He moved towards the cabinet in his room and opened the bottom drawer, pushing black shirts and black jeans out of the way, and pulled out a sketch book. “They’re not that good, but you can see some.”

Now, here’s where the problem emerged. See, recently Keith had been inspired by the boy in front of him, and therefore had a lot of drawings of him, whether it be his eye or his whole body. Of course, there were drawings of the other paladins and Coran, in fact, he found himself drawing Allura quite a lot (her hair was kinda fun to draw), but Lance was most of them. 

Keith opened up at a random page as Lance cake to look over his shoulder, and thanked whatever Gods were up there that it wasn’t a Lance obsessed page. That could’ve been bad. Instead, it was of the red lion. It was unfinished, and really bad, but it wasn’t Lance, and that’s what counts. 

“What do you mean these are bad?” Lance asked, in awe of the drawing. “I don’t think I’ve ever known someone who draws this well.”

“Well, the lines are off, and the proportions aren’t right and-“

“Keith, it’s incredible. I don’t wanna think how long it took you to draw this. Did you sit in front of Red, or do you know what she looks like from memory?”

“It’s based off memory,” Keith said shyly, he wasn’t used to this reaction towards anything he’d done. Sure, he’d been praised for doing things well, but this was different. Lance seemed to actually care. 

“How? I can’t even remember what I had for lunch today!”

“You haven’t had lunch yet,” Keith stated with a raised eyebrow. 

“Ooh, right. Anyway, show me some more, please,” Lance said, trying not embarrass himself further.

“Uh, sure,” Keith said uncertainty, flicking to the next page. This one was drawings of eyes, mostly Lance’s. Ok, all of them were Lance’s. _Shit_ , Keith thought. He just had to hope Lance wouldn’t notice. 

“Who’s eyes are those?” Lance asked, narrowing his eyes to try and figure it out. “I know I recognise them, I just don’t know who’s they are.”

“Uuuhhhhhh, they’re Allura’s?” Keith wasn’t sure what to say, and just hoped Lance would believe it. 

“No, no, Allura’s are more round. I would know, I used to look at them all the time.”

_Used to? Didn’t he still?_ Keith thought.

“Anyway, it’s not important who’s they are, let-“

“No, please, I just wanna know who’s they are.”

Keith blushed at the thought of telling Lance. This only made Lance more suspicious. “Is it someone on the castle?” Keith blushed even more. Lance raised an eyebrow. “Someone you...  like ?” Keith’s face went a furious shade of red.

“I- it- well- ummmmmm- no?” Keith stuttered, but it was too late. Lance was already convinced. He felt his heart break a little, but kept a smile on his face

“Well, whoever they are, I’m sure they like you,” Lance said, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

“I don’t think they do. I’m pretty sure they like someone else,” Keith said sadly, flipping the pages of the notebook. Pages upon pages all based on him. Lance.

“Wait, Keith slow down, I wanna see,” Lance whined. Keith kept flipping and Lance kept complaining. 

“No!” Keith snapped, throwing the book down to the floor. He couldn’t risk it, he just couldn’t. It would be too obvious. 

“Woah, Keith, calm down,” Lance said, bending to pick up the book. “I’m sorry, ok? I just wanted to see them. I think your art is really good, that’s all.”

Lance slowly flipped through the book, waiting for Keith to stop him. But he never did. So, Lance kept flipping. The drawings were all amazing, and Lance could see how much he’d improved as the drawings went on. At first it was people from the Garrison, some he recognised, students and teachers alike, and others he didn’t. Then, he started recognising all of them, drawing of the paladins started showing up. In fact, he found lots of Allura. A worrying amount of Allura. 

“Is it Allura?” Lance asked. 

“Huh?” Keith asked, looking at the page Lance was on. “Yeah, that’s Allura.”

“No, I mean, the person you like. It’s Allura.”

“What? No! Of course not!” Keith state’s, offended at the accusation. 

“Bu-“

“I’m gay Lance. You don’t have to worry about me stealing Allura,” Keith smiles softly as he says this, only slightly joking.

“I’m not worried about you ‘stealing’ Allura,” Lance said defensively. 

“Then what are you-“

“Never mind,” Lance sighs, before plastering a smile on his face again. “Can you show me some more.”

“Sure. I mean you’ve already seen most of them, but there’s some that I’m really proud of,” Keith ranted, a new found confidence at the thought of someone caring about his work. 

Lance just stared at the boy, a fond smile on his face. He couldn’t help but admire all the beautiful things about this boy, from his fluffy hair to his smooth voice. All of him was amazing.  _ What would happen if I just... kissed him? He’d probably slap me or something. _

“- and then I punched him.... Lance, you ok?” Keith asked, pulling him out of his day dream.

“Yeah,” Lance said hurriedly, “yeah, I’m just admiring the art.”


	4. Masterpiece pt2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of ‘Masterpiece’, requested by Quineon

Keith may or may not have been avoiding Lance (he was) for the past movement. It wasn’t that he wanted to avoid him, in fact, he wanted the complete opposite of that, but their last encounter was a bit... awkward, to say the least. 

It had been about a 2 movements since Lance had seen his drawings, and Lance hadn’t stopped asking about the crush Keith was harbouring for a mysterious person, until that fateful day. It was just after training, and Keith just wanted to take a shower and draw, suddenly inspired by the sight of Lance training with his gun (damn that boy was hot). But, of course that isn’t how it goes. Before he could get anywhere near the showers, he felt himself being shoved against the wall. Lance looked down at him, determination in his eyes as he placed his hand on the wall next to Keith’s head. Keith could feel the heat immediately rushing to his face, and tried desperately to hide his blush with an uninterested sigh and a raised eyebrow. 

“L- Lance,” he quickly cleared his throat, cursing himself for stuttering. “What the quiznack are you doing?”

“I’ve been doing some asking around, ya know, researching ways to find out who it is,” Lance smirked, and Keith internally screamed, worried the boy had found out. “And Shiro told me just what I wanted to hear.”

Keith’s eyes widened. Shiro told Lance. Shiro told Lance that Keith had a massive crush on his. Quiznack. “Listen Lance, whatever Shiro told you, it isn’t true.”

“I’m not sure if I believe you. And, well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there.”

Lance took his hand off the wall, and slowly reached down towards his hips, and Keith held his breath in anticipation. Then, Lance did what he least expected. 

He tickled him.  
  
Lance’s fingers danced across his hip, and Keith couldn’t hold back the shriek he let off. He tried to hold the laughter in, but goddamn, Lance was good. Once Keith started laughing, he couldn’t stop.  


“LANCE STOP RIGHT NOW!!!” Keith shouted in between deep breaths. The blue paladin paused momentarily, as if he was thinking about it, before continuing.

“I’ll stop when you tell me who your crush is,” Lance shrugged. He watched as the boy in front of him struggled against his fingers, but Lance had plenty of experience tickling people. “C’mon, Keith, just tell me. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease,” Lance whined, pausing to let Keith catch his breath.

Keith took this as an opportunity to escape. He grabbed the collar of Lances jacket and quickly switched their positions, making sure he shoved Lance against the wall for effect. “I might tell you some day, Loverboy,” is all he said as he walked away, leaving a blushing Lance staring in awe.

And now Keith couldn’t stop thinking about it. So, he was avoiding him, sticking to doodling the boy. In fact, it got to the point that Keith barely left his room at this point, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid Lance if he left for anything other than necessities. There had been a few times that the others had checked on him, but he just brushed them off, saying ‘yes I’m fine’ and ‘no, I don’t need anything’ whenever they came.

Keith hummed as he finished his latest drawing. Obviously, it was of Lance (all his drawings had been for the past movement). There was a knock at the door, and the person entered before he could say anything. “Hey, man,” Lance said.

Keith spun around and smiled slightly at him. “Hey. You ok?”

“I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I?” Lance smiles, only half joking. “I mean, I haven’t had the chance to talk to you since I tickled you.”

“I guess I’ve just wanted some space,” Keith shrugged, but Lance still seemed suspicious.

“Is it because I keep asking who your crush is? Because I can stop,” Lance said, throwing out a reassuring smile.

“I... I guess,” Keith muttered.

“You should’ve just told me, man. I would’ve stopped if you’d said. I don’t want to annoy you. I mean, I know that I-“

“Lance, it’s fine. It wasn’t that annoying.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” Keith said, smiling softly. “I don’t think you could annoy me. I’d just rather you didn’t know.”

“Oh, ok.”

Keith stood up. “Listen, I’m gonna grab some food, you can wait here if you wanna talk more.”

“Sure,” Lance says as Keith leaves the room, and he can’t help but let his eyes follow the boy as he walks away. Then he looks around the room, standing awkwardly as he waits.

Then he spots it. The sketchbook that had started his curiosity. “It would be wrong to look,” Lance reasons with himself, “but, I really wanna know. I shouldn’t though. But I could just take a quick look and he’d never have to know. Plus, I could figure who’s eyes they were.” Lance finally decided.

He opened the sketchbook and flipped though until he finally got to the pages with sketches of the paladins. As he flipped through he noticed more and more drawings of... him. Lance couldn’t help the slight blush at the thought of Keith drawing him. Then he found it, the page full of eyes. They were all so amazing, and Lance had to stop for a moment just to stare in awe at them, wondering how he only now realised how detailed they were. But he still couldn’t figure out who’s eyes they were. He knew they weren’t Allura’s, he’d figured that out when he first saw them. They weren’t Pidge’s either, or Shiro’s. That left him with Coran, Hunk, and himself. Now, if these were Keith’s crush’s eyes (which they were, Lance decided) then he liked to think he could rule Coran out. Nothing against the guy, just seemed a bit... old for Keith. Which left him with Hunk and Lance. 

_ Oh god, what if it’s Hunk. What if my crush likes my best friend _ , Lance thought. It would suck, but he wouldn’t get in the way of that, especially if Hunk decided to give a relationship with Keith a try.

He looked closer. No, nope they’re we’re definitely not Hunk’s. Which left himself.  _ Haha these can’t be my eyes. Unless... does Keith like me . _

“Hey Lance I’m ba... what’re you looking at?” Keith sounded slightly panicked but Lance couldn’t respond. Now that he’s gotten the idea in his head, he couldn’t get it out. “Lance?”

“Are these... my eyes?” Lance asked quietly. He finally tore his eyes from the page to look at Keith. Keith blushed and looked as if he was about to drop the plate of food goo in his hands.

“I- I mean....” he knew there was no point lying at this point. “Yeah, they are.”

“And, you said that these were your crush’s eyes?”

“Well, I... I never  said that I just-“

“Heavily implied it,” Lance finished. Keith sighed and nodded slightly, giving in to defeat.

“Soooo.... you like me?” Lance had to double check he wasn’t wrong. It would’ve been kind of embarrassing to reveal his true feelings form the red paladin, only to find out that he didn’t feel the same.

Keith knee he couldn’t lie about it anymore. “Uh... yeah, I do. And I get it if you don’t feel the same, but can we still be friends? I don’t want this to be awkward or anything since you’re someone that I feel I’ve gotten really close to but-“ but Keith couldn’t continue. He literally couldn’t, his brain was too busy thinking about the soft lips that pressed against his cheek. “Ummmmmm... what?”

“I like you too, mullet. Just, had to make sure before I spill my heart out, ya know. It would’ve been a little awkward if I told you I liked you, and you said ‘actually, I don’t feel the same way’,” Lance shrugged.

Keith’s whole body heated up at the confession. Lance liked him back. Lance McClain, resident flirt and the boy he’d been crushing on since the bonding moment, likes him back. “So... you like me? And I like you?”

“Yep,” Lance answered with a smile. Keith looked adorable when he blushed, and Lance made sure to make himself a mental reminder to try and get the boy to blush more often. “So, when did my charm finally get to you?”

“Why should I tell you?” Keith said defensively, crossing his arms and pouting.  


“Wait, let me guess. The bonding moment,” Lance smirked.

“Wha- I- you- huh-“

“Don’t you ‘wha-I-you-huh’ me. I’m right, aren’t I?”

Then Keith narrowed his eyes. “So you  do  remember, huh.”

“Obviously. I just think you look cute when you’re mad,” Lance shrugged. Keith glared at him, but the pink blush on his cheeks lessened whatever effect he hoped it would have. “See, my boyfriend is adorable.”

“Wh- I- boyfriend?” Keith spluttered. Lance shrugged.

“You should probably eat your food goo. It tastes horrible cold, trust me,” I all he said. He was about to walk out the door when he turned back and kissed Keith on the cheek. Keith’s face went as red as his lion and Lance just chuckled. “Adorable.”

He walked out the room, leaving Keith to figure out what the  _ hell _ had just happened in his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this is what you wanted!! Thanks for the prompt


	5. Remove the mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance runs into some trouble. Lucky for him, his masked saviour is there to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this at 3 am and then forgot about it until now. Bon appetite.
> 
> TW: guns

Lance cleaned up the last of whatever dirt had managed to work itself into the counter as the last few minutes before closing ticked by. He kept an eye on the door, knowing he should walk through any moment now. It had been the same way for the past 5 months. A member of the masked vigilante group ‘The Blade of Marmora’ would pop in and order a sandwich, just a few minutes before closing. It used to irritate him, as it meant Lance had to wait a few more minutes before he could go home, but as it continued, Lance found it comforting. It meant his friend was safe.

It meant he was alive. 

Lance starts getting the sandwich ready, already knowing what sandwich it would be. His masked friend used to try everything he could, but recently he’s taken a particular liking to the coronation chicken sandwiches, always insisting that Lance made them ‘better than any place in town’ (although Lance wasn’t convinced). The bells at the door chime as someone walks in, and Lance smiles as the man in the black and purple suit walks in. “Hola, Mr Blade,” Lance waves. 

“How many times have I told you to stop calling me that!”! The man snaps. He’s covered in blood and dirt, and obviously in a bad mood.

“Is it one of those days huh?” Lance asks. The masked man turns to face him, and Lance doesn’t need to see his face to know he’s being glared at by the Blade. “How about you get yourself cleaned up, and we talk about it over a sandwich, that sound good?”

The man sighs and nods weakly, heading towards the toilet. Lance continued the last minute cleaning, making sure that there wasn’t any mess on the counter. He hums to himself as he scrolls through his phone, waiting for his friend to finish cleaning himself up. He groans upon hearing the door chime. One minute before closing, obviously someone wants to piss him off. 

Lance takes a deep breath and shoves on a smile as he faces whoever came in. “Hi how can I-“

There were two men there, one of which had pulled a gun on him. “Give me all the money from the register right now, and I won’t shoot,” the man says. Lance can’t move, can’t really think, like a deer caught in headlights. 

“You heard what he said, empty the register,” the other man snears. Slowly, Lance moves towards the register. He can’t think, can only focus on the fact that there is a gun. A gun which is pointed right at him. A gun that, if he doesn’t do what he’s told, could kill him. Lance doesn’t want to die, not right now. Not any time soon. He remembers to take in shaky breaths as he reaches towards the register.

“Hey, Lance, I think you’ve run out of toilet pap...” the blade member slowly trails off as he sees what’s going on. 

The man without the gun walks up to him, pulling out an army knife from his pocket. He smirks as he walks towards the Marmoran, then attacks. It was a swift attack, but completely predictable. The Marmoran dodges the knife with practiced ease, shoving the man’s hand out the way, grabbing the back of the man’s neck and smashing the criminal’s face into his knee. The man with the gun panics and grabs Lance by the hair, holding the gun under his chin. 

“Stay right where you are, or little Lance here gets it.” The masked man watches as Lance finally starts to struggle against the man. “Now, here’s how it’s gonna go. Lance is gonna open the register and give me the money, so I can leave. And you’re gonna stay right there, or Lance is gonna get shot. Understood?”

The gun man shoved Lance away and gestures for him to open the register. Lance does slowly, hands shaking, his breath not quite making it into his lungs. 

The masked man slowly reaches towards the knife to unsheathe it, hoping the man with the gun doesn’t notice. He raises it and, after taking a short moment to aim, throws the knife at the man. Knife throwing was never the man’s strong point, as it took years of practice and he just didn’t have that patience, but he prayed to whatever higher power that was out there that it hit the man. 

There was a sickening sound as the knife enter the man’s shoulder, then a gunshot that rang through the whole street. And silence. 

The man with the gun collapses at the same time Lance does, and Keith makes a quick decision to take the gun away before hopping over the counter to check on Lance. 

Lance was on his knees, curled tightly in a ball as sobs wracked through his body. The masked man places a gentle hand on his back, ready to remove it if his friend so much as shifts uncomfortably under it. But he never did, so the masked man rubs slow circles around his back. He slowly reaches towards Lance’s face, moving it so that the man was facing him. Lance looks at him, then engulfs him in a hug, muttering “thank you”s into the Marmoran’s shoulder. 

“Lance, I’m going to let go so I can call the police, ok? I’ll be back in a second,” he says, slowly peeling the man off him. He reaches down and helps Lance up, leading towards an actual seat. He then takes out his phone and dials emergency services, requesting some police. 

As soon as that’s done, he turns his attention towards Lance, sitting in the seat next to the sobbing man. “Hey Lance, can you take some steady breaths for me,” he says softly, rubbing his back comfortingly. “How about counting to 10 for me?” he asks when he doesn’t get a response. “Together?”

Lance finally meets his eyes. “Wanna start?” Lance nods slightly.

“One,” the masked man starts, with Lance repeating just after him. “Two,” they both say, the Marmoran making sure to take it slow. “Three.” And they continued all the way to ten. By then, Lance’s breathing was more even, and he’d calmed down a bit. Lance wrapped his arms around the Blade member, he hugged him back. 

Both of them sat like that until there was a chime at the door. Lance flinched slightly, raising his head to see who was there. “Shiro? Why would they send you? Isn’t this a bit below you or something?”

“Well, I heard it was your place and asked if I could come. I wanted to check up on you,” Shiro says, walking towards the two.

“I’m... shaken up,” he respond, but it was obvious that that was an understatement.

“How bout we get you cleaned up while Shiro gets rid of these guys, ok?” The Marmoran says, taking Lance’s hand and leading him to the toilets. Shiro smiles slightly, glad his friend had someone to look out for him. But, he couldn’t help but wonder who they were, sure he recognised their voice. 

Lance turns on the cold tap and splashed some water on his face. He went into a stall to grab the last remaining toilet paper and dry his face, checking in the mirror to see how he looked. When he was finally satisfied, he turned to the Marmoran. “Thank you for... ya know.”

The Marmoran leans forward and kisses Lance’s forehead as best he can with the mask on. “Of course. Anything for you.”

Lance smiles slightly, but is suddenly startled when the Marmora reaches into the pocket of his apron and pulls out a pen. He grabs Lance’s hand and quickly scribbles a number on the back of it. “In case you need me for... anything,” he says. The two of them walk back through, and the Marmoran waves quickly at Lance before running out the door and to goodness knows where.

“Right, Lance, I’m just going to ask you a few routine questions, and then we’ll be done here,” Shiro starts, sitting down at the table. Lance takes the seat across from him. “Let’s begin.”

*****

Keith walks into his apartment door, muscles sore from the work of the day. He walks into the living room and spots his half brother and room mate, Shiro, sitting on a seat, flicking through a book. “I thought I would you that you didn’t have to stay up.”

“I know, but I had somethings I wanted to say,” Shiro says, folding the corner of the page and finally looking at Keith. 

“Can’t this wait till tomorrow? I’m really tired,” Keith complains. He wants to sleep, wants to get the fact that one of his closest friends could’ve been robbed and killed out of his mind.

“Well, at least let me thank you for protecting Lance. It must’ve been terrifying to see him like that,” Shiro says quietly.

“Of course I protected him he’s- I mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Keith gushes, suddenly realising his mistake. 

“Keith, I’ve already figured out that you’re in the Blade of Marmora. I’m not going to tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about?”

“And you’re not gonna give me some lecture about how I should ‘be more safe’ or ‘listen to the law’?”

“I mean, I’d greatly prefer it if you did both of those things, but you possibly saved one of my best friend’s life. I can’t be mad at you for that,” Shiro says, pulling his brother into a fight hug. “Thank you. I’ll tel you how Lance is doing.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to. I’ll be seeing him tomorrow. But, thanks anyway.”

Shiro let go of Keith. “Right, you should go to sleep. It’s been a big day.” Keith walks into his room and changes into his pyjamas. 

He feels his phone buzz just as he’s about to finally get to sleep. He picks it up to check it and smiles at the notification.

** [11:36] Hey, Lance here. Just wanted to thank you again for today. **

_ [11:37] You don’t need to thank me Lance. Just get some sleep, ok? I’ll see you tomorrow _

** [11:37]Still. Thank you, Mr Blade. Love you. Goodnight. **

Keith blushes. What is he meant to say to that. What does anyone say to that. He takes a deep breath and decided to just keep it simple. Keep it simple.

_ [11:38] Goodnight, Lance. _

He hesitates, then send his final message for the night.

_ [11:39] Love you too _


	6. Confused

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is confused and in desperate need of good advice

Lance couldn’t help but stare out at the mass of stars around him. This was definitely his favourite place in the castle. It was a large room, with glass everywhere but the floor, giving him an amazing view of space. At first it had reminded him how far he was from home, and how many people were relying on them, but soon it brought some sort of comfort, by instead reminding him of the nights he’d spent dreaming of being surrounded by stars, the many times he’d stayed up stargazing with his siblings, talking about everything and nothing. It let him think everything through.

Which brought him back to why he was here in the first place. He was confused. He hasn’t been this confused in a long time, but back then he’d had someone to talk it all through with, to give him pointers and advice. He’d had his dad. 

Lance smiles fondly at the memories of all the times he’d gone to his dad for advice. It was always his dad, ever since he could remember. His smile dampens at the realisation that he could never see his dad again. This war could kill him, and that would be it. And then-

The door behind him slides open and gentle footsteps approach him. “Lance? What’re you doing up?” Shiro asks.

“Thinking.” Lance tries to keep it vague, knowing that if he starts speaking he’ll never stop.

“About?”

Lance doesn’t answer, just stares at the space around them as Shiro finally sits next to him on the floor. “What are you doing here anyway? I don’t even think Allura knows about this place.”

“I just started walking and ended up here,” Shiro shrugs. “Guess I have some sort of sixth sense.”

“This is why you’re Space Dad and not the Cool Older Brother. No older sibling has that kind of instinct, I should know. I had four of them. Only parents have that.”

Shiro laughs, but soon his face goes quite serious. “But, seriously, I can tell something is in your mind. You can talk to me.”

Lance knows he can trust Shiro, can talk to him about stuff like this. _But is it really worth Shiro’s time?_ Lance asks himself. “It’s nothing.”

“Lance, it must be something if it’s got you like this. I didn’t think anyone could stare so intently at space. And I worked with astronomers. You don’t have to talk to me right now, or ever, but just know that I’m here for you.”

Shiro stands up to leave, but Lance makes a split second decision before he can. “I think... I’m confused.”

“Confused? About what?” Shiro asks, sitting down again.

“Ever since I came to space, I’ve been getting these weird feelings, like romantic feelings, around someone. And, I don’t know, I guess I’m not used to having these feelings. At least, not in this way.”

“So you think you like someone?”

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m confused about. I’m confused because this person is a boy, and I’m so used to liking girls.”

“You know that there are other-“

“I know there are other sexual identities than gay and straight,” Lance cut in. “I know about bi and pan and all those, and I know that it’s perfectly normal to like multiple genders.”

“Then what are you so confused about?” Shiro asks, trying to figure this out.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just, what if I’m, I don’t know,” Lance slowly trails off, unsure of how to go on. But Shiro was pretty sure he knew what was going on.

“You’re worried you’re lying to yourself, right?”

“I... I guess. I mean, let’s say I figure out I like guys for sure, how do I know I like girls. I mean, sure I flirt with them, but what if it’s all a show because of some built up idea that I have to like girls to be acceptable, or something. Or what if I don’t actually like boys, and I’m just special. Or what if I’m actually asexual aromantic, and these feelings are just planatonic. Or what if-“

“Lance, you’re spiralling. Breathe for me,” Shiro says, noticing the panic gradually filling Lance’s eyes. “Finding a label that’s right for you, and figuring out who you’re attracted to takes time, that’s just how it is. And that will differ from person to person. I didn’t really realise I was gay until Adam  _ proposed _ . And we’d been dating for a few years before that. Before that, I was still figuring it out. Adam said he knew immediately that he was gay. Keith said it took a couple of first dates with some girls to realise. It all differs between person to person.”

“I guess. But it still feels like I’m lying to myself. It feels like I have to make a choice, and that I have to choose one thing for the rest of my life.”

“Lance, you don’t have to do any of that, trust me,” Shiro assures, placing his hand on Lance’s shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze. “I know plenty of people that changed their label daily, and many more that never chose a label.”

“I understand that, and I think I identify as bisexual. But, what if that changes?”

“Then you’re just one step closer to figuring this all out. And everyone here will support you as you do.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to tell them team, to be honest,” Lance says, finally meeting Shiro’s eyes. Shiro has a confused look on his face. “Not because I don’t think they won’t support me. I have never doubted that,” Lance says quickly, much to Shiro’s relief and further confusion. “I just... what if the label I pick isn’t right, and realise after I’ve told them? I don’t want to lie to them like that, it doesn’t seem fair.”

“Lance, you wouldn’t be lying to them. I know it might feel like it, but trust me. These things change, and aren’t exactly set in stone. I promise you, that no matter what, we will fully support you, and will  never think of it as lying. We’re a team. A family. We stick together, through thick and thin.”

Lance mulled this over. He knew they wouldn’t judge him, but he also knew that it would feel like lying. But, listening to Shiro and knowing he wasn’t alone in this weird feeling of his was comforting. “Thanks Shiro. For... listening to me. And for the advice. I’m not ready to tell the team yet, though.”

“Yeah, I guessed. But, when you do, I’ve got your back. Just like everyone else.” They both sit there in a comfortable silence, looking at the stars.

“Can I ask you something?” Shiro asks suddenly. “You don’t have to answer, but I’m curious. Who’s the guy that started this confusion?”

“I-I-well-I-“ Shiro can’t help the laugh that slips out at Lance’s stuttering.

“You don’t have to tell me. But, I think I have an idea of who it is.”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry, he won’t know. Just because we’re basically brothers doesn’t mean I tell Keith everything.”

“What? I-Keith?! No way,” Lance stutters, trying to convince Shiro that his theory was wrong. He was failing. 

“Anyway, if you feel better, I think we should get some rest. Team bonding first thing tomorrow.”

Lance sits for a moment, letting the redness leave his cheeks before standing up. “Yeah. I’m gonna go get some rest.” He’s silent as he stand up and walks out the door. “Thank you, for talking to me. It really helped, man.”

“Any time.” They both walk their separate ways when Shiro turns back around. “And Lance,” the boy hums as he turns back around. “If you do want to ask him out, I doubt he’ll say no.”

Lance blushes, but keeps his composure. “I’ll remember that next time I want to flirt with someone.”

Shiro laughs slightly, turning back and walking back to his room. 

He’s glad Lance opened up about this. Not only did being honest with himself make Lance a better paladin, it showed that Lance trusted him. And he was glad they had that trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love projecting myself through Lance (is that how you phrase it???) and I’m probably gonna do it a lot more than I should. Stay safe y’all!!!!


	7. AHSJDKXBXNSK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This ain’t a Chapter I’m so sorry

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! MAY 15 Y’ALL

okay okay, so basically, She-ra Season 5 trailer just came out and I am SCREAMING!!!

its not even funny

anyway, anyone have any spop s5 theories, or wanna rant cuz I’m 1000000% down

pls, I literally can’t talk to anyone else!!! I need someone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reallyyyyy sorry this isn’t a chapter, I just reallllllly needed to get this out my system. Stay safe y’all


	8. Your Highness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally being tracked by his family, the prince longs for an escape, and to finally be back with his friends. All he needs is a way out.

The three of them crept on the dark, dodging guards like it seas some form of dance routine they had rehearsed for months prior. They climbed over the large stone wall that stood between them and the large castle, continuing along the shadows. It was difficult to find places to hide in the large courtyard between them and the castle, but they were experienced in the art of breaking and entering, and they’d snuck through places much more barren than this. It was all a matter of timing every movement perfectly. Pidge snuck ahead, leading the other two towards a secret entrance her brother had discovered last year during an attempted escape. They opened the hatch and climbed through the damp tunnel. 

Then they arrived at a fork, and Lance looked at the other two. “Stay safe, ok? I know you’re excited, but you need to stay focused. Getting caught won’t help anyone,” Hunk worried.

“Yeah, I know. I won’t get too distracted.”

Both Hunk and Pidge raised an eyebrow, doubting him entirely. Lance rolled his eyes at them and crawled down his side of the tunnel, whilst Pidge and Hunk went in the other direction. As much as he joked about it, this was a very important mission, and he couldn’t lose focus.

*****

Keith scowled as he looked out the window, longing to be outside. He hadn’t left his room, much less the castle, in the 2 months he’d been here, his parents not trusting him to not run away again. The door behind him opened, but Keith didn’t bother to turn around and see who it was.

“Your Highness,” the guard said, “your parents have requested you join them for dinner.”

“Tell them I’m busy,” Keith replied, resisting the urge to rile his eyes.

“They insist, Your Highness. They said they want to talk.”

“Tell them, if they want to talk, they can come up here and do it,” Keith stated through gritted teeth, glaring out the window. “You’re dismissed.”

The guard bows and leaves the room. Keith scowls at the open door, and trudges over to close it, but not before his wolf can walk in. Keith smiled and reached down to pet him. “What are you doing here?” He asked absently.

He didn’t expect an answer, considering he’d asked his wolf, so was surprised when someone said, “breaking your outta here.”

His head shot up, and he pulled Lance through the door, slamming it behind him. “You shouldn’t be here. We agreed that this was too dangerous.”

“I know, I know. But, I had to see you,” Lance said airily, wrapping his arms around Keith’s hips. “Anyway, nothing is too dangerous if it means saving a gorgeous damsel in distress.”

Keith tolled his eyes, pretending to be annoyed by the nickname. “Wow, my knight in shining armour. What would I-“

There was a sharp knock at the door. “Keith, we need to talk,” the Queen said from the other side of the door. Both their eyes widened, and Keith shoved Lance face first under his bed.

“Come in,” he shouted, trying to sound as unsuspicious as possible. 

The Queen walked in, graceful as ever, and sat on his bed, patting the space next to her for Keith to sit down. Keith stayed standing in spite of her, causing his mother to frown. “I understand that this is not where you want to be right now.” Keith scoffed. “But, its important that you’re here. You are going to be of age soon, and it is necessary that we prepare for you becoming King. Things like finding a woman for you to marry, and preparing for your coronation.”

“Krolia, I’m 17, that’s 4 more years until I have to do all that stuff.”

“Yes, but it always helps to be prepared,” she stood up and walked towards him, but he just moved away, sitting where she had been a few moments ago. She sighed, but didn’t go to sit next to him. “I know this isn’t... ideal. But I’m not sorry. It’s for the best.”

Keith can feel his anger bubbling up inside him and is about to storm off when a hand touches the back of his leg, reminding him to keep his cool, just for a moment. 

_Patience yields focus_.

“Fine, I’ll go through with it,” he lied. “It’s not like I can fight it.”

Krolia raises an eyebrow at him, not convinced. “What’s with the sudden change in mind?”

“I guess you could say I’ve had an epiphany. There’s no way I can fight it, and living here is much better than staying with those... street rats.” Keith has to stop himself from grimacing at everything he had just said. The sooner he got out of there the better.

Krolia smiles, seemingly satisfied, and walked towards the door. She paused, and turned back towards him. “I truly am sorry this is the way it has to go. But it’s simply for the best.” And with that she leaves, closing the door behind her. 

Keith waits until he hears her footsteps walk down the stairs before standing up and letting Lance out from under his bed.

“So, what d’ya day, babe? Get outta here now, or have you truly truly had an epiphany.”

“Shut up, you ass. You now I’m sticking with you. Let me just get some stuff.”

He quickly gathers some important stuff in a small satchel, puts on his dark red cloak and looks at Lance. “Let’s go.”

And so the two hurried towards the tunnel, Kosmo close on their heels. They didn’t bump into any guards in the way, to their surprise, and finally made to the part of the tunnel Lance had left Pidge and Hunk. They had two bags each, both filled to the brim with goodness knows what they wanted to get. 

“I see you got your ‘sweat baby angel’ back,” Pidge said in a mocking tone as they began to crawl through the tunnel, turning Lance’s face red.

“Did you actually call me that?” Keith asked through a chuckle, turning Lances face even more red.

“I- uh- well-“

“He did.”

“Hunk!” Lance shrieked, earning him a ‘shush’ from everyone else. “You betrayed me? I though you were my best friend? Guess you never can trust those you love.”

The other three rolled their eyes at Lance’s antics, but Keith missed it (not that Lance could ever know, the dude’s ego was big enough). 

It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the tunnel, and got to the hardest part of the escape, the getting across the courtyard. 

Pidge stole a quick look outside the door, checking every point the guards were at, trying to find a quick route out of there. “Let me see,” Lance whispered, squeezing past Hunk and shoving Pidge out the way so he can catch a glimpse outside. “Follow my, gays. We’re gettin’ outta here.”

“Keith is the only gay here, Lance,” Pidge mutters, but they all follow Lance as he runs through the shadows and towards the large wall guarding the tower. He practically swan dives into a bush, and Pidge and Hunk quickly follow after him. Keith raises an eyebrow in question, but follows them anyway because being stuck in a tiny hole under a wall was better than staying here. 

When he finally reached the end of the tunnel under the wall, Lance reached down to help him up. When he’s standing again, Keith looks into Lance’s eyes, knowing very well that he has a dopey look on his face that Pidge will no doubt mock him for later. But right now, it’s all about him and Lance. 

“Come on, gays. Let’s get going. Allura won’t wait all day just because you two were too busy being lovey dovey,” Pidge interrupted. Lance just smiled and took Keith’s hand, leading him away from the castle. 

As soon as they reached Allura and the cart they’d managed to borrow (read: steal), Lance pulled Keith into a kiss. It was soft and sweet and innocent. It was everything Keith needed after two months away. 

“Get in the cart or we’re leaving you behind,” Allura shouted at them. Lance chuckled and climbed into the cart, before putting his hand out for Keith.

“Your chariot awaits, Prince Keith of gay land,” he mocked, making the rest of them laugh. Keith rolled his eyes lovingly, getting into the cart without Lances help. Lance gasped in mock offence, falling dramatically into Hunk’s arms. “Oh, Hunk. I’ve been wounded! Betrayed! I don’t know if I’ll make it! As my best friend, you must avenge me!”

Hunk held Lance closer, playing along. “Oh Lance, of course I’ll avenge you! Tell me, what are your dying wishes?”

“Ch- chop off Keith’s mullet,” Lance choked out, dramatically grasping at air, before going completely limp in Hunk’s arm. 

Hunk lowered his head, wiping pretend tears from his eye. Pidge looked at Keith, smirking slightly. “Welp, you heard the dead man. Keith, say goodbye to your hair, because this is the last you’ll see it for a while.” Pidge reached into the satchel and took out a knife. 

“Wait no!” Lance shouted, sitting up and almost head butting Hunk right in the nose. “Don’t get rid of his hair.”

“Aw, babe, you do like my hair,” Keith said, touching the ends of it.

“Nunca lo odié. Pensé que era hermoso,” Lance said with a smirk.

“What?”

“Nothing, Keithy. I’m just insulting your stupid mullet.”

Keith rolled his eyes. Everything was back to normal. He was with his family again. He looked around at his friends, watching Hunk and Pidge rake through the satchel, pulling out new tech they’d found at the palace. Watched as Lance reaches forward and started braiding Allura’s hair, whilst they spoke about whatever it is they speak about.

He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this took forever, I’m really sorry!!!! Stay safe y’all <3


	9. Taste of His Own Medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5 times Lance flirts with Keith, and 1 time Keith gives Lance a taste of his own medicine

1.

Sparring with Keith was an... experience, in Lance’s opinion. Neither good nor bad. You see, on the one hand, having Keith that close was amazing, exhilarating (especially when Keith managed to pin him down). But, on the other hand, having Keith that close was awful, embarrassing (especially when Keith managed to pin him down). It was a serious issue that Lance wasn’t sure how to deal with. He couldn’t exactly get out of training, but his massive crush wouldn’t just vanish. It was a complicated situation that Lance tried to make the most of. 

That’s why, when Lance finally, after a few rounds of sparring, managed to pin Keith underneath him, he took it as an opportunity.

“Did you just come out of the? ‘Cuz damn, you’re hot,” Lance whispered in his ear.

“We’re training? Of course I’m hot. It’s what happens when you put effort into it,” Keith said, shoving Lance to the side. Lance couldn’t help but pout a little as Keith walked towards the door of the training room. He paused. “Good job by the way. You’re getting better at hand to hand.”

Lance blushed a little. So maybe the pick up line had failed, but a compliment from Keith was nice too.

2.

Keith lay in what the paladins has dubbed the living room, emerged in a book he’d found in the ship’s library. It was one of the few books that came with an English translation, so he was desperate to enjoy it.

It wasn’t the type of book he’d normally read, but it was better than nothing, right? Better than just sitting around doing nothing since training wasn’t an option (Shiro has gone Dad Mode ™️ and banned him from training for the next two days). 

The door slid open and Lance walked in, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Hey Mullet,” Lance waved. Keith rolled his eyes and continued reading. “Whatcha reading?” 

“A book I found in the library.” Lance sat down next to him, a bit too close for comfort. “What about you? Why aren’t you with Hunk and Pidge?”

“They’re off doing... whatever. They didn’t need my help with anything.” 

Lance paused and smirked. He saw a perfect opportunity, all he had to do was take it. “Ya know, I might need your help with something though.”

Keith raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Well, you see, I’m trying to learn about important dates in history.” Keith nodded his head, telling him to go on. “I was wondering if you wanted to be one of them?”

“What? That doesn’t make sense...”

“I was asking you out,” Lance put on his signature smirk. “Ya know, be one of the important dates in  my history.”

Keith cheeks turned pink at that. “I- Well I- yes?”

“Is that a question or-“

Keith cut Lance off with a kiss. He probably should have thought it through, he didn’t know how fast Lance wanted to take this or if kisses were even a thing Lance was  comfortable with, but his impulse control said otherwise.

Lance cupped his face and kissed Keith back, a slight smile on his face.

When they finally parted, Keith’s cheeks were a bright red, and Lance had the biggest grin Keith had ever seen.

“Next planet we stop on for non-war related things, I’m taking you out for the best first date of your life. I promise.”

Keith just rolled his eyes playfully, continuing his book as Lance ran out of the room, probably to ask when they’d next be stopping. 

That boy is adorable.

3.

The date, overall, wasn’t a complete disaster. At the start, it didn’t work out too well because neither of them thought to bring money, but after that issue was sorted, it was fine. They went to a nice diner-like place, and shared the closest thing to a milkshake (it didn’t taste like a milkshake  at all ), and held hands as they walked across the beach, watching the pink sky fade to blue. “This was nice,” Keith said, breaking the silence they had been in.

“It was. I’d love to do it again sometime,” Lance decided. Keith nodded his head, and they continued walking, this time talking about everything and nothing. Finally, they reached the end of the beach, and decided to see what shops there were around. 

“Wait, can we go in there? I need to get another book with an English translation. I can’t keep reading the same books over and over.”

“Yeah, ok,” Lance said, following Keith inside. Their hands stayed interlocked the whole time Keith browsed books.

“Hey, this one has an English translation,” Lance said, showing off a book with a dark green and black cover. “Kinda gives off ‘evil spell book’ vibes.”

Keith snorted, and it was possibly the best sound Lance had ever heard. “What’s it about?”

“I don’t know, evil spells?” Lance suggested, making Keith snort again. He took the book from Lance’s hand and flipped it over. He read the back and smiled.

“Well? What’s it about?” Lance asked expectantly. “Evil spells? How to get revenge on your enemies? Tales of evil witches?”

“It’s not about... any of those,” Keith said, taking Lance towards the counter.

“The what’s it about?” Lance asked. Keith just smirked.

“I’m sure you’ll found out soon enough,” he stated ominously, causing Lance to eye him suspiciously. Whatever Keith was planning couldn’t be good. 

“Don’t look at me like that. I promise it’s nothing evil,” Keith sighed, taking out the small pouch of money he had. He fished inside it, only to come out empty handed. “Hey Lance-“

“I got it,” Lance said, getting out a few coins. “You owe me though.”

“Oh, Lance, however can I repay you,” Keith said sarcastically, causing Lance to laugh.

“Well, maybe I could borrow a bandaid?”

“Why would you need a bandaid?” Keith asked. Then he got worried. “Are you injured? Oh no, I promised Pidge and Hunk I wouldn’t hurt you, and now you’re injured? Why didn’t you say anything?!”

Lance just chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing big,” he shrugged. “I just scraped my knee falling for you is all.”

“You... you little-“

“That’ll be 6 GAC, please,” the lady at the counter said, pulling them from their conversation.

“Thank you,” Lance said, passing over the coins and giving the book to Keith. They walked out the store, hand in hand, and Lance felt the urge to kiss him.

“That pick up line, by the way, was horrible,” Keith said suddenly, looking up at him. “I thought you were better than that, McClain.”

“Excuse you, I’m amazing at flirting. You’re just a tough crowd. But I swear, I  will charm you with my amazing pick up lines.”

Keith smoked softly, letting out a gentle scoff. “Yeah right,” he said, rolling his eyes as they headed back to where the rest of the paladins were staying.

Lance smirked. He had a mission, and he was damned if he wouldn’t complete it.

4.

Keith paced back and forth, chewing in his nail nervously. It was a horrible habit, one he’d picked up from Lance, but he couldn’t help it. Just a few minutes ago, Lance was on the verge of death, having taken a shot from an ion canon for one of the paladins. No one was sure how long he’d be in the healing pod, or if there would be any long term damage afterwards, all they knew was that he was so goddamn lucky to have survived. 

“Keith, you need rest,” Shiro said from behind him, standing in the doorway.

“But, what if-“

“I’ll stand watch whilst you sleep, ok. I promise, nothing will happen to him.” Shiro walked towards him, and took his place in front of the pod. “if anything happens, you’ll be the first one to know. Now go rest.”

Keith wanted to fight Shiro, he really did. But he would be no use to Lance if he was half asleep when he got out the pod, so he left the room, immediately going to Lance’s instead. 

It was comforting, the smell of Lance that surrounded him when he entered the room. He took off his signature red jacket, and threw on Lance’s, hugging the shark stuffed toy as he lay in the bed. It had been a gift from him to Lance on their fifth - maybe sixth - date, at a carnival. It was the closest thing they had to a shark, so Keith got it for Lance. He remembered the wide smile Lance had on his face for the rest of the date, never letting go of the toy, and never letting go of Keith’s hand.

He hugged the shark-like toy tighter, the sudden weight of the situation suddenly hitting him. Lance was unbelievably lucky to have made it, but what if he hadn’t been? What if Lance wasn’t lucky enough? What if they hadn’t gotten him to a pod fast enough? All these what ifs where driving him as, and he knew he shouldn’t think like that, but he couldn’t help it. The thought of losing Lance was too much, but the idea wouldn’t leave his head. 

He let the tears slip down his face. Lance was going to make it, or so help him, he would kill every last Galra soldier out there. 

Keith ended up falling asleep to thoughts like these, of what he would do if Lance didn’t make it, what he would do if he did make it. 

He didn’t wake up until he felt someone shaking his shoulders. “Keith, Coran thinks Lance is going to wake up soon, you coming?” he said gently. 

Keith sat up straight away, almost head butting Shiro in the nose. He jumped out of the bed and ran to the room with the healing pods. Everyone else was already there, but they let him through so he could stand nearest the pod. 

They all waited in anticipation, waiting for the gentle hiss of the pod opening, and for Lance to come falling through, straight into Keith’s arms. But, as time went by, it seemed less and less likely, and more like Coran had just messed up the timings. But none of them moved, none of them dared to, worried that they’d miss his awakening.

When Lance finally did fall, Keith was there to catch him almost immediately. He looked around, confused. “Are we having some sort of party?” he asked, looking at all the other paladins, who were gathered around him.

Smiles and tears broke out around him, and he just looked at them all in confusion. “Seriously guys, what’s the big deal?”

Keith squeezes him tighter, almost lifting him from the ground. “You were in a healing pod. We... weren’t sure if you were going to make it or not. It was... It was.. terrifying,” Keith explained, by releasing Lance from the hug.

“I guess I really have fallen for you,” Lance let out a shaky laugh. “Of course, you already knew that.”

Keith couldn’t help the laugh that slipped past his lips. “I missed you, you dork.”

Lance hugged Keith back. “Missed you too, Mullet.”

“Group hug!” Hunk almost yelled, joining the two love birds. It wasn’t long before everyone was included in the hug.

Keith looked at Lance and sighed. He loved this boy.

5.

“Game night!” Pidge yelled throughout the sleeping quarters.

“Yesss!” Lance did that weird jump and heel click thing, following Pidge toward theliving room. Hunk was soon following them, all three of the dorks whooping as they went.

Keith rolled his eyes behind them.

Pidge went around, plugging in an assortment of cables and connecting the console to the TV. 

Lance say next to Keith, arm around his shoulder, as they made gooey, lovey dovey eyes at each other. 

“I really hope you look forward to losing, Keithy. Because trust me when I say I’m a master at this game.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

“Hell yeah it is!” Lance shouted excitedly.

“Well then, let’s place a bet. Whoever wins what to plan date night next.”

Lance smirked. As much as he loved surprises, he loved planning dates a lot more. “You’re on, mullet. Just, don’t be too upset when I win.” Keith rolled his eyes. 

“Right, it’s all set up,” Pidge said, handing out controllers. “Any of you cheat,” she stated, looking pointedly at Lance, who raised his hands defensively, “and I will remove your kneecaps.”

“Like you could reach,” Lance muttered under his breath, earning a laugh from Keith. 

“What was that, Lance?” Pidge said in a threatening tone. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

“Nothing, Pidgey. Just start the game.”

Pidge eyed him suspiciously, but started the game anyway. Lance smirked as the alien version of Mario Kart came on. He was amazing at Mario Kart, and used to play it all the time with his family. He could totally beat Keith.

At least, that’s what he thought. Until Keith was in first place. Lance was close behind, but just couldn’t get the acceleration he needed to pass him. Lance narrowed his eyes in determination, tongue sticking out slightly. There had to be some way to...

“Hey Keith,” Lance said, eyes never leaving the screen.

“Yeah.”

“You know, people always say i’m on top of stuff,” he said, gaining the knockoff equivalent of a blue shell. “Would you like to be one of those?”

There was slight chaos at that. Shiro choked on air, Pidge burst out laughing, Hunk tried to stifle his laughter behind his hand, the two Alteans looked slightly confused (although Lance was sure they’d get it soon enough) and Keith. Well, Keith was frozen, face bright red and mouth hanging open. 

Lance threw his shell and passed straight by Keith, finishing first place with ease as the room slowly went back to the way it was before. Keith was still frozen though, even after everyone was finished. 

They started to pack away, and soon everyone but the two lovers had left.

“Keith?” Lance asked cautiously. Keith could snap out of it any moment now. What if he was mad? Oh no, Lance has really messed this up. Oh God, Keith was going to be so mad and he was going to break up with Lance because he was too much too soon. He shouldn’t have made that joke. He-

“What the hell Lance?!” Keith shouted suddenly, making Lance flinch. “You- you... you cheating little quiznack!” Keith quickly tackled Lance to the ground. “I would’ve won if you hadn’t- ugh!”

“Sorry,” Lance said softly. “I just... really wanted to pick our next date. I have a plan and everything, and it was going to be a really nice surprise. I didn’t know it would mean this much to you.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance. “Of course it means a lot!” Keith shouted, but there was no malice to his tone. “You’re my boyfriend and I want to make you happy. I wanted to plan a really nice date for you, because you keep on planning really nice ones for me.”

“Keith, baby, you plan amazing dates. Every date you plan is perfect, even if it doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, because it’s heartfelt, and just so... _you_.”

The two of them smiled at each other. “I’m planning the next one, got it?”

“I can live with that,” Lance said leaning up to kiss Keith’s nose, but he expertly moves so that the kiss is on his lips instead. Lance moves his hand up to Keith’s hair, and Keith’s settle on Lance’s lower back. They move apart, and Lance can’t help but smile at the boy in front of him. He’s never seen anyone quite so beautiful.

+1.

Keith walked towards the living room, a new sense of determination on each step. He had been doing some reading, and now he was ready. Ready to get back at Lance. It was always Lance that seemed to say the pickup line, that was constantly flirting with him. But today, that was over, and the tables would turn. 

Today, Keith would flirt with Lance. 

After finding out from Hunk that Lance was in the living room, he had set off, and now he was there. He walked in, trying (and failing) to act casual. 

“Hey Keefers, what’s up?” Lance asked as Keith sat down next to.

“Nothing much,” Keith said casually, slipping a hand around Lance’s shoulder. Lance leaned in, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder. “I’ve just been thinking. There are 20 letters in the alphabet, right?”

“i don’t think so, gimme a sec,” Lance said. He slowly sang The Alphabet under his breath, counting as he went. “Nope, there’s 26.”

“Ohhh, right. Must’ve forgotten u r a q t,” Keith shrugged. Lance was silent, far too silent for Lance. He sat up slowly, and that was when he saw Lance’s face. It was adorable, seeing his boyfriend with pink dusted cheeks. Then a confused look went over his face.

“That’s... only 25. You’re missing one,” Lance said slowly.

Keith pretended to think about before smirking. “Oh yeah, you’ll get the d later.” Lance’s face turned completely red, and he seemed to stop functioning, just barely managing to hide his face in his hands. Keith’s smirked, satisfied with the reaction. But that smirk slowly turned to concern when Lance didn’t move for another 10 minutes. 

“Lance? You still there?” Keith asked, but got no reply. He prodded his shoulder. Nothing.

The door swished open and Hunk walked in, raising an eyebrow at the two. “What happened?”

“I-I don’t know. He won’t move, hasn’t for a while.”

“Oh man, I think you broke him,” Hunk said, prodding at his arm. “Yep, definitely broke him. How?”

“I may have flirted with him,” Keith said quickly, causing Hunk to burst out laughing.

“I should’ve guessed,” he said between laughter. “Lance can dish it, but can  never receive it without being like this.”

“How do I... get him back?” Keith asked, looking at Hunk.

“I don’t know, usually I just wait until he snaps out of it himself.”

“How long does that usually take?”

“About an hour,” Hunk shrugged, causing Keith to go wild eyed.

“An hour?! No, no way!” Keith screeched. “I’m sitting this out now.”

“I mean, if you want. He’s your boyfriend.”

Keith thought about what to do, then picked Lance up and carried him to his room. He didn’t need to, but he liked carrying Lance so, he was going to. 

He felt Lance shift, turning to hide his face in Keith’s neck. He placed Lance on his bed when they got to the room, and cupped his face in his hands.

“You ok?” he asked.

“I- I- you- I-“ Lance stammered, cheeks turning redder.

Keith smiled, kissing Lance’s cheek. “Guess we’re even after the Mario Kart thing, huh?” Lance smiled slightly. “Nice to see I haven’t completely broken you.”

“You almost did, you little-“

“But I didn’t,” Keith said with a smirk. “Anyway, I thought you were adorable so it’s fine, right?”

Lance’s cheeks, which had slowly started returning to their normal colour, went red again, making Keith laugh. He decided to try and make Lance blush more, it was too adorable not to happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all i’m obsessed. i haven’t stopped listening to the she-ra playlist since it came out, so that’s fun. but yeah, for personal reasons, i will be passing away on May 15  
> Stay safe y’all!


	10. Another spop rant (i’m sorry)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS FOR S5 OF SPOP!!!! SEEIOSULY THIS ISNT KLANCE OR EVEN VOLTRON ITS JUST ME RANTING IM SORRY

OK, FOR THE LAST TIME PROBABLY GONNA BE SPOILERS FOR S5 OF SPOP!!!!! DONT GO ON IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED IT!!! BUT WATCH IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE CUZ IT IS AMAZING

OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!! I CRIED SOOO MUCHHHHH!!!! THEY ALL- I LIVE THEM ALL SO MUCHHHH!!!

AND CATRAS HAIR????? BEAUTIFUL STUNNING LOVED IT!!!

ALSO, THE SCENE WHERE CATRAS HIRT AND ADORABLE TURN INTO SHE-RA TO SAVE HER???? ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE, LOVED EVERY MOMENT!!!

AND WE GOT CATRADORA!!!! I- YALL I WAS SOOOO HAPPY WHEN THEY KISSED I LEGIT STARTED CRYING!!!! 

THE WHOLE SEASON WAS AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!!!!

right, rant over (for now)! I’ll update soon, if you’re wondering!! I just need a moment to get over how wonderful that show was!!!

Love y’all, stay safe, and feel free to rant abt anything!!!


	11. Say Yes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a Big Question to ask Keith, but the team take it entirely the wrong way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This changed so many times, i don’t really know what it is at this point

Lance could feel the excitement thrumming through his veins. Today was the day. He was finally going to ask Keith. He hasn’t seen Keith, or any of the paladins for that matter, in months, so seeing them again was exhilarating.

They’d all been off on their own adventures after saving the universe. Allura has been helping regrow the Altean population with the help of Coran and Lotor, Hunk and Pidge were helping build tech for the Garrison,Shiro was leading space missions for the Garrison, Keith was helping the Blade with missions, and Lance was exploring space. Although they’d all gone their separate ways, the paladins kept in contact, making sure to meet up as frequently as possible. 

And today was one of those days, a day to celebrate their victory, and to catch up with friends, which they’d decided to hold on Altea, as it was easiest for all of them.

When Lance finally landed his ship in the hangar, he couldn’t wait to jump out and see all the paladins again. 

The first thing he saw once out of the ship was Hunk and Pidge. His smile widened and he ran towards them, pulling them both in for a hug, feeling Hunk lift both him and Pidge off the ground. 

“God, we missed you so much, Lance,” Hunk said, putting them down and slowly releasing the hug. “How’s the exploring going?”

“It’s great! There are so many places and people. There are a surprising amount of places that hardly even knew the war had happened, it was kind of eye opening, really giving a view to how big the universe actually is. Oh, and there was a species that were really technologically advanced, like, better than the Olkarion. You guys would love them,” he rambled, throwing his hands around in crazy gestures. His two friends smiled fondly as he continued talking about his adventures, telling them stories of ‘daring adventures’. “- and that’s how I almost broke both my arms and legs. How about you guys? What cool science-y stuff have you been doing?”

This set both of them off on a tangent about some new ship they were helping build, and whatever cool stuff they were building on the side. Lance smiled fondly at them. 

Once they finally reached the palace, where they’d decided to meet up, he spotted Coran, Shiro and Allura talking to each other. Lance smiled and he waved wildly at them. They all waved back, smiling just as wide. As soon as they were close enough, the group joined together in a hug. 

“So, how’s New Altea doing?” Pidge asked Coran and Allura.

“Oh, it’s doing wonderfully. Most people seemed to have settled in nicely, and seem happy with the new way of life. It’s just... amazing to be able to see it happen,” Allura gushed, smile widening as she went. 

“How about you, Shiro, any interesting updates?” Lance asked. But they all knew he wasn’t really asking about the Garrison, nothing interesting happened there that he wasn’t told about by his sister, Veronica.

“Seriously Lance?” Shiro asked, giving him a deadpan.

Lance shrugged. “I’m intrigued by your love life, Shiro. So?”

Shiro rolled his eyes fondly, but answered anyway. “Me and Adam are doing great. It’s not quite how it used to be, but it’s getting better.”

“That’s good, i’m glad you guys are back together. I remember in Garrison when the rumours first started going around that you guys were dating. It was hilarious,” Lance said.

Pidge looked at the group around them and frowned slightly. “Where’s Keith. I knew he’d be late, but not this late.”

“Oh he said he got caught up in a meeting with Kolivan. He’ll be here soon,” Lance answered. They all smirked at him, Hunk bumping his shoulder. “What?”

“Nothing,” Shiro said, shrugging. The rest nodded slightly in agreement. Lance eyed them all suspiciously. “But since we’re on the topic of love life, when are you going to ask Keith?”

“What?!” Lance screeched, gaining a few curious eyes from the guards around them. 

“You know, when are you going to ask him the Big Question?” Shiro asked, the rest looking at him curiously. 

Lance groaned, looking up at the ceiling dramatically. “Is it that obvious?”

“Maybe to us, but i’m sure Keith will still be surprised. You know how he is,” Shiro said.

Lance sighed in relief. “Do you think he’ll say yes?”

There was a chorus of ‘yes’s and ‘definitely’s throughout the group. Lance smiled softly. “Thanks guy, that’s really reassuring.”

As of on cue, the doors opened and Keith came rushing in, wearing a new red and white jacket (that slightly matched Lance’s blue one). “Sorry I’m late. Kolivan really wanted that mission report,” Keith said, jogging over to them. They all smiled as he joined their group. Lance pulled him into a hug, which he gladly accepted, and soon enough the whole group was hugging. It was good to be together again.

“Right, now that we’re all here, let’s head to the dining hall,” Coran announced once they’d broken apart. They followed him through a large set of double doors and sat in their usual positions at the dining hall.

Throughout the whole dinner, Lance couldn’t keep his eyes off Keith for more than a minute. And Lance was fine with that, because Keith was beautiful so it was fine, except for the fact that every time he looked at Keith, he could feel the smirks of the others, and it was starting to get in his nerves. 

Once dinner was over, they made their way outside, all preparing for a group photo. They all stood together, smiling widely for photo. Just as it was being taken, Lance looked over at Keith and noticed him staring. He smiled at the man, who smiled back, a new, softer look in his eyes than Lance had ever seen before.

“Great photo guys,” Coran said, holding up the camera up for everyone to see the photo. Lance looked at it, and saw the loving look in both his and Keith’s eyes. He could feel himself blush.

“Right, who’s ready for a tour of the castle?” Allura asked once everyone had seen the photo. The rest all nodded their heads and walked behind Allura, too caught up in their own conversations to notice Lance and Keith staying behind. Lance threw his arm around Keith’s shoulder. 

“I think I need to think of a new nickname for you, mullet. It’s too long to be one now,” Lance said to him as they walked slightly behind the rest.

“Please don’t. I was just getting used to mullet, I don’t think I could take another one of your stupid nicknames,” he insulted, rolling his eyes playfully. Lance gasped in mock offence, and shoved Keith, maybe a little harder than he meant to. Keith went stumbling to the side, tripping over his own feet. Luckily Lance caught him by the waist just before he landed on the ground.

“You know, for as skilled a warrior as yourself, I thought you’d have more balance. If I knew that I’d just have to shove you to beat you in a fight, I would’ve done that during training,” Lance teased, choosing to ignore the heat he felt on his cheeks.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Keith said sarcastically, standing up. It took Lance a moment to realise he was still holding onto Lance’s hips, but he let go pretty quickly afterwards.

They went the whole tour laughing at each other, playfully insulting each other. The team watched, and unanimously decided to leave the two alone for a bit, hoping Lance would ask the Big Question then.

It took both of them a while to realise they were alone, but when they did, Lance immediately knew why. He was 50% grateful, 50% pissed off at them for leaving. 

_Deep breaths, Lance. Now’s your chance._

“Hey, listen, Keith. I want.... need to tell you something,” Lance started hesitantly.

“Go ahead Lance,” Keith said, smiling supportively. Lance opened his mouth to start, then closed it. This was a lot harder than he’d originally thought. Keith must have noticed his hesitance because he grabbed Lance’s hand and squeezed it supportively. “Whatever you have to say won’t change anything. You’re my best friend, I’ll support you no matter what.”

Lance smiled at Keith, and Keith smiled back. He slowly took a deep breath, and started. “Listen, I... oh god, how do I start. I love you, but in a platonic ‘you’re my bestie’ sort of way, but in a romantic ‘I want to date you, and hold your hand, and kiss you, and just generally be with you’ way. At least, I’m 90% sure I do. I know it sounds weird, or maybe even crazy.” He paused your catch his breath before continuing.

“But, I do. At first it was a simple crush, a passing feeling of getting butterflies in my stomach when we trained together or whatever, but it started getting worse and worse the more things I noticed about you. Like, your eyes. I love the colour of them, and the way that they sparkle in certain lights. I love the way you throw yourself into stuff without a second thought, even if it almost got us all killed once or twice. I love that you never give up on your friends, no matter what. I love how angry you get when I tease you about your hair. I love your smile and laugh. I love that I feel like I can come to you for advice. I love everything you do, because you do it so... Keith-like.

“I...I love you, Keith.” Lance finally allowed himself to breathe again, but didn’t dare look at Keith’s face, opting to look at the pristine, white floor. Keith dropped Lance’s hand, and Lance knew immediately what that meant.

Rejection.

He quickly turned away, trying to hide the wetness in his eyes at the though of having ruined their friendship.

“And I get it if you don’t feel the same way. I totally understand. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way just, please,” Lance could feel his barrier breaking, the tears about to fall. “Please don’t let this change us.”

His plead was met with silence.

_ I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I. _

Lance took a deep breath, deciding to bury his current feelings until he got to his ship, where he could mope freely about losing his best friend. His space ranger partner. The one he always went to for support.

It was gone.

Lance closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared to walk away, when he felt someone grab his hand, stopping him.

“Do you mean what you said?” Keith asked softly, in a voice Lance had heard very few times.

“Every single word.”

There was a pause. “Can you look at me?”

Lance frowned. If he looked at Keith and saw the pity in his eyes, he’d break. The dam would break and he’d cry, because if there is one thing he didn’t want to come from this, it was pity. But, he was a sucker, would willingly follow Keith to the end of the line.

So he turned and faced him. He looked in Keith’s eyes, trying to decipher whatever emotion was there. It certainly wasn’t pity. It was... something. A look Keith have very few, one that Lance has occasionally been on the receiving end of. Was it love?

Keith released Lance’s hand and slowly moved to cup the sides of his face. Lance’s eyes widened slightly. Keith slowly leant in, and soon Lance followed him until they met in the middle. Lance could feel Keith’s chapped lips against his, it was better than he could’ve hoped.

Keith moved away, but didn’t move his hands, still cupping his face. “I love you too. I love how loud you can get, and how passionate you are. I love- I love- I love  _ you _ . I love every single thing about you.”

Lance smiled and put his hands over Keith’s. “Well, Keith, will you be my boyfriend?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re such an idiot, yes.”

Lance let out a whoop, jumping up in the air. Keith couldn’t help but smile.

_ Lance is an idiot, Keith thought.  But he’s my idiot. _

Keith took Lance’s hand. “Let’s go back to the others,” he said, leading Lance through the hallways. They found them through in a nearby room, all talking in little groups.

“So, Lance, how’d it go?” Shiro asked as they walked in.

“He said yes,” Lance smiled, and the rest of the group groaned, handing money to Pidge, who smirked.

“Thank you for growing a pair and asking, Lance. You earned me 800 GAC,” they said.

“Wait, you guys knew?!” Keith shrieked.

“You guys we’re betting on is?!” Lance shrieked at the same time.

Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance suspiciously. “You knew they knew? Did you set this up or something?”

“Yes and no. I knew they knew, but I didn’t get them to leave or whatever. I was 100% ready to get rejected in front of them.” Keith snorted. 

“Anyway,” Allura said, changing the topic. “Can we see the ring?”

“The ring?” Lance asked slowly, looking extremely confused.

“Yes, isn’t it human tradition to give you’re fiancé a ring?”

“It is, but we’re not getting married. I just asked him to be my boyfriend,” Lance explained slowly. The rest of the team, excluding Keith, looked at him incredulously. 

“Wait, you weren’t dating before?” Pidge asked.

“No, what makes you think that?” Keith asked.

“Oh nothing, just the fact that I literally caught Lance sitting in your lap, and the time I caught you wearing Lance’s jacket,” Pidge shrugged.

“Wait. hold up, did everyone here think me and Keith we’re dating?” Lance asked watching as the whole room nodded. “Seriously? Well, I guess this won’t be much of a change.”

“Except now I know for sure that Keith gets to know all about the time you were pining for him,” Pidge said. Lance shit her a pleading look. “Like the time he was prepared to order a bunch of aliens to ‘serenade you so that you loved him’.”

“Damn, that’s... thats...”

“Dedicated? Compassionate? A great show of love?” Lance supplied.

“Sure, lets go with that,” Keith teased.

Lance glared playfully at Keith, but that glare soon turned softer as he watched Keith laugh with the rest of the group. Keith caught Lance staring and smiled, squeezing his hand tighter.

This was love


	12. Missing You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me?? almost crying while writing this??? it’s more likely than you think  
> this is kinda angst (it’s not that sad tho) so enjoy?

It’s been months. I don’t know how many, I couldn’t tell you, but it’s been a long time. Enough time for me to be over you, so why am I not?

What did I think of you as? A friend? A best friend? A crush?

Did I only like you platonically, or was it something more? Will I ever get the luxury of finding out?

What about you? Did you like me platonically, or was it something more? It’s seems rude to assume but I have to know?

Did you even like me?

Or was I just someone there for you to talk to about your issues? A good listener when no one else was around? The one that would stay by your side no matter what? Was I wrong to believe you’d do the same?

Was it even your fault? Sure, you left me with only obscure messages of failed friendship and loneliness, so was it on me? Am I the one who failed? I can’t remember what I did, so I cannot tell you for sure.

But what I can tell you is I’m alone. Now more than ever. I shouldn’t be, I have plenty of friendships. More, it seems, than I had when you were around. Yet here I am, more alone than I’ve ever felt.

Are you the same? Do you miss me the way I miss you? Do you see my face and wish to talk, or do you think of me as someone you used to know? Am I a passing wish, or just a friend you lost in the way?

I’m sorry. Sorry I didn’t understand, that I wasn’t there when you needed me. I’m sorry my need for people to like me for in the way of our friendship. I’m sorry for what I did, even if I have only the slightest clue what it was.

Everyday, I try to convince myself that this wasn’t just my fault, that you had some sort of play in our relationship falling apart. But I can’t believe that, can’t believe that you’d ever do anything wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m the one at fault here. No matter what my family may have said when you first left, they don’t know the full story. Perhaps it truly is my fault. Maybe it isn’t. I’ll never know. Or maybe I already do, who can tell? I can’t, that’s for sure.

I miss you. I hadn’t for some time. I’d gotten better, I’d moved on, stopped avoiding wherever you may be because, although they may be where you usually stay, it’s where I stay too. It’s something we used to share, those spots. I wish I didn’t miss you, because missing you is so, extremely difficult.

I wish I could’ve told you this before, told you how much you meant to me, reassured you that you still had meaning to me, that I still cared, even when it seemed I didn’t. It just always seemed so hard to show that when it came to you. Maybe this has something to do with those unresolved feelings. Who knows? I certainly don’t. 

I think I could’ve loved you, for what it’s worth. I think my feelings would’ve grown passed whatever they  ~~are~~ were. I think, if you’d stayed (if I hadn’t fucked it up) I would’ve thought i’d you as more than a friend. I might’ve even asked you out. Would you have said yes? Probably not, you already liked someone else, I know. But it would’ve been worth it to try. To see how you react.

I’m a constant circle of emotions now, going through stages of blaming you, taking the blame, not caring about you, and then caring too much. It’s too hard to look at you right now, in this stage of caring too much. I even had a dream where we were friends again. Where you missed me and I missed you and we spoke and we managed to work this out. But I know that won’t (can’t?) happen. I’m too late. You e moved on and decided not to care. You’ve moved on and forgotten about me. Just know that I will never forget about you, no matter what happens. You changed me too much for that. You’ve left your mark and I don’t want it gone. It’s all I have left.

I miss you. I always will, and it hurts. I love you (as friend? more?) and I don’t know if I can stop. Or even if I want to. But, it doesn’t matter what I feel. You’re happy, and that’s fine. Im glad you get to be happy.

Missing You,

Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk if this counts as klance, i mean it could be any ship with lance in it, but for the purpose of this, it’s klance


	13. My Headcanons cuz i’m bored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> idk guys, i’m bored and haven’t posted in a while, so have my headcanons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, long time no see!! HAPPY PRIDE!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL JUST FOR WHO YOU ARE AND YOU ARE SOOOOOOO VALID!!!!!! stay safe, especially with everything going on right now!!!!!

  * hunk is pansexual
  * idk where i heard this, but i did and now i love it (pls i just want some representation)
  * pidge is ace (i don’t care what you think ok, she just is)
  * allura is biiiii (but not a disaster like lance)
  * most of their sexualities are things i’ve seen on twitter aus tbh
  * all the paladins do weekly movie nights with, like, pillows and blankets and the whole thing, and it’s ended in a to-the-death pillow fight on multiple occasions
  * lance can give compliment, and loves to flirt with people, but cannot take any of it for his life (he’s a bi disaster ok, let him be)
  * keith gives THE SOFTEST HUGS in the world, you cannot convince me otherwise
  * he doesn’t give them very often, but when he does it’s just-
  * keith is ticklish as all hell, and lance uses it to his advantage CONSTANTLY
  * lance is slightly ticklish, but he’s good at hiding it thanks to his many siblings
  * hunk sings quietly when he’s cooking, but not actual songs, just whatever he’s doing at the time
  * lance and hunk are the types of friends that will laugh randomly whilst making eye contact, they don’t need words
  * alteans don’t get hiccups, so allura is really worried the first time it happens to the paladins and almost send them into a healing pod
  * the garrison trio have sleepovers where they just kinda... sit together and do whatever
  * allura and lance have ‘spa dates’ where they paint each other’s nails and talk
  * pidge can do surprisingly good impressions of people, especially the paladins
  * LANCE WITH CURLY HAIR AND FRECKLES



proper klance stuff now:

  * lance is taller than keith (and you can rip this from my cold dead hands)
  * like, i know that keith has that growth spurt or wtvr, but lance has a growth spurt too after, and he’s back to being taller than keith
  * lance likes to give keith forehead kisses (yes this has everything to do with the height thing)
  * when it’s revealed keith’s galra, lance won’t stop asking if he has ‘cute, fluffy ears’ and keith wants to ~~kiss~~ kill him
  * shiro 100% mocks keith for how whipped he is for lance because he feels it’s his ‘god given right as keith’s brother to do so‘ and it annoys keith to no end
  * pidge gags whenever keith and lance so much as touch, but she only slightly means it
  * Klance: *kiss*  
Pidge: really, in front of my laptop?
  * hunk is lance’s go to for ranting about keith like
  * lance: i mean, have you SEEN his EYES like damn he-  
Hunk, who has already heard this exact same rant a million time: *stares in the camera like the office*
  * lance loves to give Keith random kisses, usually on the forehead or cheek
  * jacket (and i cannot stress this enough) swap
  * like, lance thinks keith is hella cute in his jacket cuz it’s slightly too big, but lance in keith’s jacket? oh boy, don’t get keith started
  * shiro swear the first time it happens keith rants to him about it for 4 hours or something
  * when they snuggle, they like to face each other, unless one of them is upset, then they spoon each other
  * theres not exactly one of them that’s always the little spoon, though, it all depends
  * so, when lance is feeling homesick, he’ll be the little spoon, but when keith has a nightmare (which is worryingly often) he’s the little spoon
  * but usually face each other, and have their legs intertwined and everything
  * pidge has a whole folder full of black mail photos of when they were hopelessly pining for each other
  * when one of them gets injured and has to go to the healing pod, the other stands outside prepared to catch them
  * lance always makes a joke about falling for keith, and keith ~~hates~~ loves it
  * lance: oh yeah, the red lion is just kinda our thing
  * he loves to brag abt that
  * they both like to throw in the word ‘boyfriend’ when talking about the other
  * keith has said on multiple occasions that he’d single handedly kill zarkon if he hurt lance, and no one dares challenge him on that cuz they know he would
  * keith loves counting lance’s freckles when he’s asleep
  * keith wasn’t used to affection at first, but pretty quickly he gets used to it, and he takes FULL advantage of it
  * its all little things tho, like hooking pinkies with him during meetings, stroking the back of Lance’s hand with his thumb, that sort of stuff
  * the first time they kiss it’s really awkward and they don’t talk about it for days
  * theyre just so adorable, and if i don’t stop now, i’m gonna go on forever




	14. Not My Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A failed kidnapping, a rigged game neither could win, and nearly dying from some food. Not exactly how that day was meant to go.

Keith walked down the hall, eyes on the tablet in front of him. He’d recently just gotten back to the Castle of Lions after a Blade mission, and really needed to finish this mission report, or Kolivan would probably have his head. He was so close to being done, just needed to fill in the last few details and....  
A hand clamped over his his eyes and mouth and dragged him away from the hallway and into a storage room. He fought against the person holding him back, but it was no use as his attacker dug a finger into his side, causing Keith to buckle over in laughter.  
How does they kno- seriously?  
Keith knew what to do immediately. He stuck out his tongue and licked his attacker’s hand, laughing at the yelp they let escape.   
“If you’re going to attempt to kidnap me, at least make it harder to stop you,” Keith smirked, turning face to face with dazzling blue eyes. “Wear gloves or something so that you don’t get grossed out when I lick your hand.”  
“That was disgusting, mullet. I just wanted to take you in a nice surprise date, and you lick my hand? Disgusting,” Lance grumbled, wiping his hand on Keith’s shoulder.  
“Like I said, wear gloves. Or, you know, don’t attempt to kidnap me.”  
“But how else am I supposed to take you on super secret dates? Tell you to meet up with me alone in an anonymous note?” Lance thought about it for a moment. “Actually that might work I could...” he slowly trailed off, mumbling to himself about whatever new date idea he had. Keith watched him fondly as he did this, watching the many facial expressions that passed across his face. He was so far gone, no wonder Shiro and Pidge made fun of him for it.  
“Lance?” Keith interrupter, causing the boy to look up wide eyed. “The super secret date?”  
“Oh, right yeah. I was expecting the kidnap attempt to work, and for you not to be wearing your Blade uniform, so that we could just go straight to the... place. But, neither of those happened, so I’m improvising. Go get changed and meet me by Red. Bye.”   
Ana with that, Lance ran out of the storage room, leaving Keith to watch him go with an amused smile on his face.   
*****  
As Keith walked towards the red lion, he couldn’t help but see a perfect opportunity for revenge. Lance was facing away from him, probably ‘talking’ to his lion (or whatever they call it when the lions speak in their head... it’s close enough to talking, right?). But, the point is, revenge is going to be sweet. And, he’s prepared. He has gloves on.  
He walked towards Lance, making sure to stay as quiet as possible as he did so. Even if Lance was completely submerged in the ‘conversation’ with Red, he didn’t want to chance it. He smirked and reached around his boyfriend, quickly pulling him off the ground. Lance let’s out a small yelp, and starts trying to squirm out of Keith’s arms, but nothing he does works.  
“Damn you and your muscle-y arms,” Lance mutters, still squirming in Keith’s arms. “Put me down Mullethead or you’ll regret it.”  
“Will I though?” Keith asked, and Lance can hear the smirk in his voice.  
“Yeah. You seem to forget, Keef, I am the youngest in my family. Being annoying is my specialty.”  
“Yeah, but I’m used to. Spending a year in space with you does that,” Keith shrugged, still not letting go.  
“Oh, but I improved when you were gone,” Lance joked, but the words still hit Keith like a truck going 150 mph. When you were gone.  
But, despite all the emotions those words brought, Keith smirks a little. “I think I could handle you, Lance. I may have been gone, but I’m still your boyfriend. We’re connected.” Keith finally put Lance down and headed into the lion.   
“Was that an Iron Man reference?” Lance asked, still frozen where Keith had dropped him.  
“C’mon, Lance, I wanna know what ‘super secret date’ you have planned,” Keith teased.  
“But- I- Keith! Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve bonded on Marvel films a lot sooner!! I could’ve asked you out sooner! That piece of information could ha-“  
“Lance,” Keith interrupted, “I believe we have places to be.”  
“Sorry, what was that? I cant hear you over the BETRAYAL I feel right now,” Lance huffed, only slightly serious. He followed Keith into the lion and began to fly to the planet he’d planned for them to go to, Yagstaht. It was meant to be similar to Earth, according to Coran, and had a festival on. So, obviously, Lance decided he had to take Keith there on a date as soon as possible.   
*****  
As soon as they landed, Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him from the lion, running towards the festival. It was nearing night by the time they arrived, one of the planet’s two suns had already disappeared below the horizon, but the festival was still going strong with hundreds of thousands of people still wandering through the streets filled with stalls.  
Lance pulled Keith through different stalls, and Keith let him lead the way. This wasn’t exactly where he wanted to be, with so many strangers and such little breathing room, but just by looking in Lance’s eyes he could tell that this was his kind of thing. And, hey, the food smelled amazing.  
“Lance, do you actually have any money?” Keith asked jokingly, although it was a genuine worry of his.  
“Of course. I’ve been planning this for a while,” he smiled. “So, food first or festival games.”  
Keith looked around, trying to figure out where was least crowded. The food stalls all had large crowds around them, probably because it was nearing the end of the night, so games it was. “Let’s go to the games. I wanna win you something.”  
“Nope, no no no no, not happening. I asked you here, so I’ll be winning you something.” Keith opened his mouth to argue, but Lance put a finger over his mouth before he could. He smiled softly and led his boyfriend towards the games, immediately going for a shooting based game. He will win this, no doubt.  
****  
“That was definitely rigged, I swear!” Lance rants, waving his hands in the air. By this point they’d played 5 different games about 10 times each and won nothing.   
“Lance, it’s not a big deal,” Keith smiled, tugging his boyfriend away from the stand. It was starting to get crowded, people having just finished eating and deciding to catch the last of the activities before the annual dance to celebrate the founding of the capital city or something like that.  
“Still,” Lance whined, letting his boyfriend lead him in whatever direction they were headed, “I wanted to win you something. Its, like, compulsory that I win you something on any date with games, whether that be an arcade or one of those weird ‘fight to the death for some money’ competition. I’ve truly failed as a boyfriend.”  
“Listen, how about we buy some food, and just chill. You don’t have to win me some prize, you just have to be there, okay?”  
“Damn, Mullet, who knew you could be so romantic. I must really be having an impact on you.”  
“Wow, who would’ve thought you being me boyfriend would change me. Only a man of science could’ve figured that one out,” Keith drawled sarcastically, causing Lance to elbow him in the side.  
“All I’m saying is that if someone had said to me 6 phoebes ago that Keith Kogane, resident lone-wolf, would turn into the romantic, I would’ve been very worried for their mental state, and probably asked if they wanted to talk about whatever could’ve possibly happened to make them think that,” Lance shrugged. Keith scoffed.  
“Whatever, lets just get away from all these people, and towards the food stands. I want to taste something that doesn’t taste vaguely of food goo.””Aye aye, Leader,” Lance mocked. They walked towards the food stands, Lance pausing every so often to point out how weird and colourful all the foods were compared to Earth.  
“Lance, are you going to actually eat some food, or just stare at it?” Keith asked after being stopped by Lance for what felt like the fiftieth time.  
“Right, okay. Well, what do you want? This date is for you.”  
Keith thought about it for a moment. All the foods they’d seen looked interesting, but he was presuming they didn’t have the money for all of it, so he’d have to pick. He looked around then pointed at a random food stall. “May as well try there,” he shrugged, pulling Lance through the few people still around.   
The food they ordered was bright blue and burnt both of their tongues when they bit in, but it was pretty good.   
At least, it was until Lance seemed to have some sort of allergic reaction to it.  
“Oh shit, oh shit, what do I do?” Keith asked himself. He went up to one of the people at the stalls, carrying a choking Lance with him. “Can you help me, please, my boyfriend is having some sort of reaction!” Keith said frantically. The alien looked at Lance, before nodding and pulling some sort of needle from behind his counter and stabbed Lance with it, worrying Keith for a second, before he noticed his boyfriend slowly stopped choking, and started taking deep, gulping breaths.   
“Thank you, thank you so much!” Keith rambled, relief washing over him like a tidal wave. He held Lance close, rubbing a hand through his hair slowly. He looked over to the alien. “Is there any way I can repay you?”  
The alien just smiled at Keith. “It’s fine, just keep him safe. He’ll need to sit down for a bit, and probably something to drink.”  
Keith nodded, leading Lance towards a seat. They both sat there and watched the sun as it finally hid behind the horizon.  
“That was some date, huh?” Lance joked, looking over to Keith, looking at the stars reflecting in his eyes.  
“It may have gone against your plan. But there’s one hell of a view here.”  
“Yeah,” Lance sighed, unable to tear his eyes from Keith. “There is.”  
They stayed like that for a while, until Lance leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Keith’s cheek, gaining his attention.  
“There is still one thing I had planned. We don’t have to do it, but I though it’d be romantic, you know.”  
“What is it?”   
“There’s a dance later on tonight, in case you haven’t heard. I just.... I thought we could have a dance to end the night,” he replied softly, sounding almost vulnerable. Scared of the rejection he thought might be coming. “It’s a stupid idea, I know but-“  
“But I love it,” Keith said, putting a hand on Lance’s. “Word of warning, though, I can’t dance.”  
“Sure you can, just follow my lead,” Lance stated, jumping from his seat and skipping towards where the dance would be held.   
“Wait, Lance, shouldn’t you be sitting down?” Keith asked, following him anyway.  
“There’s too little time to just sit down Keith. C’mon. I just want to dance with you.”  
Keith rolled his eyes as he followed him. The dance floor was a square of land that had been cleared of any stalls and seats, with a stage of musicians in front of it. All over there were a few people swaying to the soft music the musicians were playing to warm up, but the real, official dance still had yet to start.  
“Do you even know what dance they’re doing here?” Keith asked his boyfriend skeptically. He’d presumed it wouldn’t just be random people dancing how ever they liked, considering how important this was to their people.  
“Of course I do. Did you really think I’d plan a date like this without doing some research?”  
Keith hummed a little, as if he was mulling the question over.  
“Mullet, how dare you! First you foil my attempts to kidnap you, then you attack me, then you reveal you’ve been lying to me our entire relationship, and now you offend me and my date planning skills? I can’t believe it!” Lance shrieked in mock offence.  
“Sorry, oh great date planner. I never meant to offend you. Whatever could I do to gain your forgiveness?” Keith mocked, gaining a slight chuckle from his boyfriend.  
“Well, I can think of a few things. But, for now, I suppose a kiss would suffice.”  
“I think that’s doable,” Keith smirked, leaning forward to give his boyfriend a kiss.  
Then, the dance truly began. With the single strum of a chord, the people that had gathered around went into the clearing and started a slow dance, each with their own partner. It was magical, almost hypnotic, and Keith could’ve stayed there watching for hours if Lance hadn’t distracted him by grabbing his hand. He’s pulled to the dance floor.  
“It’s a pretty simple dance, once you’ve figured it out, it just repeats itself,” Lance started, taking both Keith’s hand in his. “Just watch and learn, dude.”  
He watched for a bit, then, as soon as he thought he’d figured it out, he joined. He was stiff, and it definitely wasn’t as graceful as the others, but he was doing it. He was doing with Lance.  
And that was what made it so magical.  
“Listen,” Lance said nervously, pulling him from his thoughts, “I know this isn’t the best date we’ve ever been on. Maybe it’s even the worst. I mean, a failed kidnapping, rigged games that neither of us could win, and me having a really horrible reaction to food isn’t the best combination for the perfect date, but I-“  
“Lance, I had fun. Apart from you having that reaction. Please never do that again.”  
Lance chuckled. “Can’t make any promises babe.”  
“I’m serious, that really worried me,” Keith said defensively. “I thought you might die.”  
“Aww, babe. You know you can’t get rid of me. I’m too stubborn.”  
Keith looked at him fondly. “I know. I’m glad, even if that means I have to deal with your annoying ass for the rest of my life.”  
“Hey! This ass isn’t annoying, it’s great and you know it!” Lance shrieked, gaining some stares from other dancers. “Anyway, I’m trying to defend my honour and make up for my horrible date.”  
“Lance, you don’t have to do that, as long as it’s with you, the date is perfect.”  
“You have such low expectations for my date planning skills. I don’t know whether I should be offended or glad.”  
“Just take the compliment, or you’re gonna make me regret giving it.”  
“Ok ok ok, I’ll take it. But still-“  
Keith cut Lance off with a kiss as they moved closer, then smirked at his boyfriend’s blush as he was moved away again. “Sorry, what was that?” He asked innocently.  
As soon as the dance finished, a new one started. Well, it was more of a sway in Keith’s eyes, but it just made this dancing-with-Lance thing incredibly easy. He could sway slowly while staring lovingly into his partner’s eyes. What more could he want?   
He rested his hands on Lance’s waist, whilst Lance’s circles his neck, and they slowly began to sway to the beat of the music along side the people around them. But the two didn’t care about them, hey cared only about each other. In that moment, there was no one else. No war, no fighting, nothing else. Just them and the love they felt.  
It was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okokok, if you’re looking for something new to get into, i would 100% recommend The Two Princes. it’s a podcast story and i am in love with it!!!


	15. Intertwined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mornings with klance

He opened his eyes blearily, met with the slight rays of sunshine. He closed them again and focused on the man next to him. On the skin touching his. The legs intertwined with his. The heat of the person next to him. He focused on the familiarity of it all. The feeling of being safe from the universe after years of fighting.

He smiled slightly to himself, opening his eyes again and took in the man beside him. The dark hair pooling around his pale face, mouth open slightly. He was beautiful.

He threaded his fingers through the dark hair gently, careful not to wake his husband. He wanted this moment to last for ever, wanted to memorise this feeling.

Finally, he got up and padded through to the kitchen. He put the kettle on and got two mugs out. Then got the pancake mix out and started to hum to himself slightly, one of the love songs they’d slow danced to last night. He felt something nudge at his leg and looked down, smiling even more.

“Hey Kos,” he whispered. “You hungry?”

Kosmo nudged his leg again, and he took that as a yes. He smiled and poured the dog food into Kosmo’s bowl.

He turned back to the breakfast, flipping the pancake over. He felt arms wrap around him and smiled.

“Hey baby,” he said softly. Keith grunted in response. “Kettle’s on if you want to make yourself some coffee.”

His husband didn’t move, just nuzzled his face into Lance’s neck. 

“You know, you didn’t have to get up. You can go back to sleep if you’re this tired,” Lance pointed out.

Keith just groaned in response. “‘M fine,” he muttered, but his gruff voice said otherwise.

“C’mon, bonito, go back to sleep. You obviously need it,” he said softly, leaning his head on Keith’s.

His husband mumbled something unintelligible, making Lance chuckle. He put the pancake on a plate and turned around. “I’ll carry you if you want?”

Keith just shook his head, threading their fingers together. He leant forward and places a kiss on Lance’s mouth.

“Hi sweetheart,” Keith whispered, as if it was a secret he wanted desperately to keep just between them.

“You finally awake, mi amido?” he asked playfully.

“I dunno. Might need another kiss to fully wake up,” he teased, leaning into Lance’s face.

Lance smiled and leaned in the rest of the way, hands moving to Keith’s cheeks. Keith smiles into the kiss, pulling away to look at the beautiful man in front of him. His husband. “Damn,” Keith breathed. “You’re gorgeous.”

“You’re not too bad yourself,” Lance teased. They stared into each other’s eyes for a bit, letting the world slip away.

“Dance with me?” Lance asked, finally breaking the silence.

“What about breakfast?” Keith asked as Lance pressed kiss to his forehead.

“It can wait,” he replied nonchalantly, reaching behind him to turn off the hob. He walked to the middle of the kitchen and reached out a hand for Keith to take. “You coming?”

Keith smirked fondly. This man will be the death of him in the best way possible. He took the hand and let Lance pull him forward, into his chest.

Keith places his free hand on Lance’s shoulder and rested his head on Lance’s chest. They slowly sway from side to side, Lance occasionally spinning Keith. 

Lance spun Keith away from him, and Keith pulled Lance towards him, quickly pinning them around and dipping Lance, placing a kiss on his lips. He pulled away and smirked down at Lance.

“Hey,” he said, watching the smile on Lance’s face grow.

“Can you let me up so I can finish breakfast?” Lance asked, letting one hand play with his husband’s hair.

“I suppose, but it’ll cost you,” Keith shrugged.

“What? A kiss or something?” Lance asked, laughter in his voice. He knew this line from all the romcoms he watched.

“Oh please, I’m not that cliche. I wanted an extra pancake to be honest.”

“Fine, lemme up and you can have an extra pancake,” Lance said, slight disappointment in his voice. He just wanted a cliche moment with his husband, was that so hard?

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Keith smiled. He pulled Lance towards him, giving him a quick kiss. Lance smiled and tugged him in for another, longer kiss. When they finally break apart, they can’t hell the loving look they give each other, and the overwhelming feeling of gladness at the fact that this was who they got to spend their life with.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wouldn’t have taken so long if i didn’t have the attention span of a dead insect, but oh well


	16. Partners In Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith, Samurai and Sharpshooter. It doesn’t matter which name they go by, they’re always partners in crime.

They’ve been partners in crime for years. The Samurai and Sharpshooter. It started with small scale house robberies, but slowly progressed to more dangerous acts. Until, finally, it lead them to here and now.

“Hey, Sharpshooter, you good?” Keith asks as he slips through the dark hallways. This particular heist shouldn’t be the most difficult they’ve done, but the consequences if they got caught would be much bigger than ever, possibly even go as far as death. But what was a heist without risk?

“Yeah. Nothing interesting yet, but I’ll let you know. How’s it looking down your end?” Lance asks in return as he turns round a corner, gun at the ready.

“Pretty good. Same as you,” Keith says. They end up in an easy silence, both watching intently for any sign of movement. There shouldn’t be, everyone who would in the building should be away. But you can never be too cautious when breaking into the home of a gang leader, can you?

“Hey Keith?” Lance whispers suddenly, breaking the silence in the comms.

“Yeah Lance? Find anything?”

“No, I was just wondering if you’re.... free tomorrow evening? 7 o’clock sort of time?” Lance asks, feeling his face heat up.

“You know I am, Lance. We have pretty much the exact same schedule,” Keith says, slightly distracted by looking at his surroundings.

“Well, I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date with me? Dinner... just the two of us? Then maybe that amusement park that’s in town?” Lance asks, unusually shy. Keith freezes, unable to do or say anything. Lance panics at the silence. “Of course you don’t have to, you can say no, that won’t change anything. I don’t even know if you’re single, to be honest, I just kinda presumed you were.” his eyes widen as he realises what he said. “Oh god, I’m sorry, that came out wrong I meant-“

“I’d love to Lance,” Keith interrupts the boy’s nervous rambling.

“We’ll meet 7 o’clock, sharp, at that new place, just down the street. How about that?” he suggests, smiling.

“I’d love to, La- Sharpshooter,” Keith says, and Lance can hear the smile behind his words.

“Then we can go to the amusement park, win some games and eat so much food we throw up?” Lance says hopefully and Keith just smiles.

“Sounds perfect.”

Lance laughs, and they go back to that easy silence. Lance turns one last corner and come face to face with a towering door. “This has to be it,” Lance mumbles to himself.

“Did you find anything?” Keith asks hurriedly.

“I think so, but you keep looking, okay Samurai. Just in case. I’ll tell you what I find.”

Lance opens the door slowly, gun at the ready. But there’s no movement. It looks like a study, with a big wooden desk and a large desk chair. There are multiple bookshelves crammed with books, and a large, glowing fish tank, casting an ethereal blue glow in the room.

Lance takes out a small, handheld device (courtesy of Pidge) and clicks the small button, watching as a blue ray scans the room. “Please be a secret door, please be a secret door,” Lance wishes to himself. When the ray finally find something behind the wall, Lance let’s out a small “yay”.

“I found a secret door, I’m going to check it out,” Lance says to Keith. Keith doesn’t say anything for a bit and Lance sighs. “You know I can’t see you nodding, right?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. You go check it out, scream if you get murdered,” Keith says distractedly.

“Will do.”

Lance slowly pushes a bookshelf (it’s a lot lighter than it looks) and fiddles with the door handle. He grumbles to himself when it doesn’t budge, and takes out his packet of lock picks, choosing which two to use.

After a few minutes of fiddling around with the tools, he finally hears the satisfying  _ click _ that shows he has successfully broken into the secret hideaway. He opens the door and slips inside, closing it behind him. He notices how the lights turn on as he walks, making him smile. “Keith, this secret tunnel is  _ so coo l _ ,” he squeals, although he’s not entirely sure Keith is listening. “We should get one at some point.”

Finally, he makes it to the end of the tunnel and into the small, square room at the end. Its completely empty, save for the metal box in the middle of the room, and the grey stone walls only further the sense of emptiness the room has. 

“Ohhhh boy, this is it! This is the jackpot!” Lance mutters excitedly. “Samurai, the eagle is in the nest.”

“You say that again and I will stab you,” Keith shoots back, only slightly joking.

“Okay, okay. But seriously, I think I’ve found. I’m gonna open it.”

He fiddled with the combination lock, waiting until he hears the satisfying click.  _Too easy. They should really improve security around here_ , Lance thinks to himself, chuckling as he opens the box and finds-

“Keith, false alarm, there’s nothing here,” Lance obviously deflates as he closes the empty box and walks back through the tunnel, making sure to put the bookshelf back in its place. Normally he wouldn’t be that worried about getting caught, but the Galra were the real deal, and would find them easily if they left evidence they’d been there.

He looks around the office more, checking the drawers anything interesting.

Lance stands behind the desk with his hands on his hips. “The office is useless. Only thing here are some... very nice looking pens.” 

“Lance,” Keith says in warning. “We’re here to collect what Allura asked for and then we’re gone. No pen stealing.”

“But Pidge has been saying for ages that she’s been looking for more pens, and now I’ve found the best on the market and-“

“Lance, Pidge can buy her own pens, trust me. Now hurry up and check some other rooms, I’m pretty sure Zarkon’s room is on that side of the house, just above you.”

Lance puts the pens down and huffs away. He sneaks through the house, humming the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme song as he went. He finds the stairs and goes up them three at a time, marvelling at just how many there were.

_ Who needs this many stairs?  _ he thinks as he goes, finally making it upstairs. He follows the halls and finally makes it to what he presumes is Zarkon’s room. 

He presses his ear against the door and listens for anything. Nothing. No muffled speech, no breathing. 

He opens the door slowly, wincing at the creaking noise it makes and walks inside, he dropping at the sheer size of the room. He closes the door behind him, unable to take his eyes off the room.

“I’m pretty sure the  _ curtains _ are worth more than me,” Lance marvels, making Keith chuckle  ~~ and god does Lance love his laugh ~~ .

“Keep your head on your shoulders,” he reprimands, but there’s a smile in his voice.

Lance looks around, much like he did in the office. He finally searches a drawer and... there it is.

A large, colourless jewel. Bigger than his hand.

“Holy quiznak, this thing is huge. What the hell does Allura need it for?”

“Who cares, just grab it and get to the pick up point. I’ll meet you there.”

Lance nods and picks it up, weighing it in his hand. “This thing is massive, I swear.”

“I’m sure it is,” Keith says dismissively. “And you can show me when you  _ get to the pickup point _ .”

“Ok ok ok, I’m coming,” Lance says, waving his hand exasperatedly. He mentally adds a ‘that’s what he said’ to the end of it.

He’s about to leave, he swears. He was closing the drawer and turning around. But then he heard voices. And it’s not good to be hearing a voice that isn’t yours when you’re alone is terrifying. 

Especially when it’s coming towards the room you’re in.

Which is why he hides under the bed, hoping the long, trailing duvet will cover him for long enough that the person leaves and Lance can make his exit.

The door slams open and someone stomps in, yelling incessantly on the phone.

“Listen, you better find out what happened to my security feed or so help me I will-“

Lance takes in a sharp breath. He knows that voice. It’s bloody, motherfucking Zarkon. Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? This is perfect.

“Get the problem sorted now! I want to know who the hell is in my house!” Zarkon shouts down the phone. He sighs angrily and walks to the drawer, opening it. He curses and slams it shut, growling slightly. Lance gulps, trying to keep himself as quiet as physically possible. The man stills, and for a moment Lance thinks he’s been found. But no, he can’t have been. He’s under the bed, he can’t have been seen.

The footsteps start again, and Lance tenses as they go around the room, but relaxes slightly as the footsteps get further from the bed. There’s silence. It’s tense, and Lance doesn’t dare to breathe.

But then a gun cocks, and Lance can’t help the yelp that escapes him. His eyes widen as the sound comes out of his mouth and he knows he’s screwed. He’s dead. 

_I need to find a way to tell Keith_ , Lance thinks. He can’t speak over the comms, Zarkon will know Keith’s there. But it’s the only way to tell him. He takes a deep breath and whispers, “I’m caught. Stay safe.”

“Lance?” Keith shouts at him. He knows what this means. “Lance you better get back to me. 7 o’clock, remember? You better not be late.”

Lance smiles slightly, and the silence that settles is nice. This moment is nice.

If only it could last.

The duvet flips up to reveal Zarkon’s massive, ugly face glaring at him. Lance smiles sheepishly, but is tugged out by his leg. He lets out a small yelp of surprise.

“So you’re the mole that broke into my house? Well, you didn’t do a very good job.”

Lance takes a deep breath and smirks. “But I got what I came here for.”

Okay, so that’s a lie. He didn’t really get it, the jewel is still in his hand. But, hey, if he’s gonna get caught, he may as well have little fun. And what better way than to make the enemy paranoid as hell.

“I have half a mind to kill you-“ Lance gasps slightly. “- but that wouldn’t be fun, now would it. At least, not for me.”

The threat is obvious in his voice, evident in his smirk. Lance gulps.

*~*~*

He doesn’t know why he waits outside for as long as he does. Maybe he’s hopeful. Maybe he’s stupid. Maybe he’s just head over heals with a boy that wouldn’t show.  _ Couldn’t  _ show. 

Keith sighs, and pushes himself off the wall by the restaurant, shoving his phone into his black trousers. It’s been an hour. 

He doesn’t know why he waits.

Lance is gone. Dead? Alive? Who knows? Who cares? Lance is stuck with the Galra, and that means Keith has to get him out of there no matter what.

They’ve been partners in crime for years. The Samurai and Sharpshooter. It started with small scale house robberies, and it could end with this. A rescue mission into the belly of the beast. 

But he  _ will _ succeed.

He will see Lance again.


	17. Controlling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets mind-controlled cuz I’m a sucker for mind-control fics

Keith stalks the dark hallways, bayard in hand. This was their one chance and he couldn’t screw it up, it had taken phoebes to get his location. Cell door after cell door passed him, but he doesn’t stop.

This is all his fault. He was the one that suggested this mission. Was the one that called the shots. The one that led them into a dangerous situation. 

The one that let Lance get caught.

“That’s it,” Pidge announces through the comms, pulling him from his thoughts, “the one on your left.”

Keith nods and raises his hand to the control panel. The door slides open and reveals the dimly lit room, the only light coming from thin, purple strips on the wall. “There’s nothing he-“

He’s interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut behind him. He whips around and sees ...Lance?

“Lance?! What the hell?!” Keith asks, rushing over to the paladin. He was wearing his full armour, with his bayard in hand. “Are you okay?”

He looks frantically at Lance, checking for any signs of pain, when his breath catches in his throat. Lance’s eyes are that horrible yellow colour they’d seen when Shiro was a clone.

“What have they done to you?” Keith snarls, taking off his helmet to get a better look.

“They have shown me what it truly means to be part of a team. What it feels like to truly matter. Something Voltron could never do,” he says calmly, placing a hand on Keith’s cheek. Keith can’t help but notice the slight contortion in his voice.

“What? What are you-“ but he’s cut off by a slap to the face. Lance snarls at him.

“Don’t act dumb. I  _ know _ what you all think of me!” he shouts, raising his bayard and transforming it into an Altean broadsword. “I know you think I’m weak. Useless.” Lance looks away slightly, a sadness to his eyes. “Replaceable.” The snarl comes back onto his lips just like that. “But not anymore!”

He lunges at Keith, sword raised to strike. Keith moves out of the way just in time, transforming his bayard into a sword as well. “Lance!”

But Lance just ignores him, preparing to strike again. Keith blocks his attack and steps back, watching as Lance almost loses his balance. “I don’t want to fight you, Lance!”

“Why?!” Lance snarls, “don’t think I can take it? I’m not as weak as you think! And I refuse to back down.”

“What, no I-“

But he is cut off as Lance lunges in for another attack, slicing straight across Keith’s forearm. 

“Fine,” Keith huffs, “no more going easy on you. You want a fight, then I’ll give you a fight.”

Lance smirks at that and thrusts his sword forward. Keith used his sword to knock it to the side, attempting to get it out of Lance’s hand. “You’ve been training with that, huh?” Keith asks when Lance doesn’t let go.

“I already told you, I’m not as weak as you think!” Lance yells slightly, swinging his sword back at Keith. Keith narrows his eyes. He blocks the hit with surprising ease, and swings his sword in retaliation. Lance is knocked to the side as the flat of the sword hits his hip. He grunts in pain and slowly stands up again.

“I almost feel like you’re going easy on me, Sharpshooter,” Keith smirks, knowing Lance will take the bait.

Lance grunts as he swings his sword in a wide arc towards Keith, going straight for his neck. Keith brings his sword up to block and they smash together with a resounding  _ clang _ . Lance forces his blade forward, trying to move it passed Keith’s. But, before he can, Keith steps back, sending Lance falling forward. Lance groans in frustration.

“Stupid little half-breed.” Keith flinches at the words, even though he knows Lance doesn’t mean it.

“Maybe you shouldn’t make this so easy,” Keith smirks, knowing Lance will once again rise to the challenge and become more reckless. Counting on it, even.

Lance jumps up, fumbling with his sword. “I’ll show you easy you Galra freak!” And with that Lance runs forward, sword swinging erratically at Keith. Keith blocks every swing with ease, until he finally manages to push the sword out of Lance’s hand.

Lance frowns at the sword as it falls across the room before throwing a punch straight at Keith’s face.

_Good, I can definitely beat him at hand to hand_ ,  Keith thinks. He doesn’t want to hurt Lance, but it could be the only way.

They throw punches at each other, Lance only managing to get a few hits in. 

Lance throws one last punch, but Keith catches it and twists his arm behind his back, pulling Lance close into his chest and wrapping his arms around him so he can’t move.

“I know you’re still in there Lance. You can fight whatever’s doing this, I know it,” Keith urges as Lance squirms in his arms. “We’ll get back to the team and everything will be okay, I promise.”

“The team?” Lance asks incredulously. “Why would I go back there?! They don’t want me! They don’t- they-“

Lance slumps in his arms, trembling slightly. “They don’t need me,” he sighs, his voice breaking.

Keith holds Lance tighter, this time more comforting than restrictive. “Yes, we do. We need our Sharpshooter. We need someone to brighten our mood when everything seems horrible. We-“ Keith hesitates before sighing. “ _ I _ need you. I need my righthand man. I need someone to call me out when my plans are risky. So, please, Lance, come back to us. Come back to me.”

Lance seems to give in. Keith lets go slightly, but just as he does, Lance throws him over his shoulder, throwing Keith across the room. He stalks towards Keith, picking up his bayard and transforming it as he goes.

“That’s a wonderful sentiment, maybe it’s even truthful. But-“ Lance puts his blade under Keith’s chin, forcing him to look Lance in the eyes “- I’ll pass. Did you really think some nice words would do it? Think they would bring me back?”

Keith gulps as Lance crouches down. “I am going to kill you in the slowest, most intimate way possible, and just when it’s all over, I’ll let your Lancey see his work as you bleed out. And he’ll know this is because he is far too weak to control his own mind and body,” Lance snarls. “How’s that?”

“You won’t,” Keith spits. “Because I know Lance. And I know he is strong, strong enough to fight whoever you are. I know he’s still in there and I am not leaving until I get him back.”

Lance chuckles. “I thought I already told you, nice words. won’t-“

The yellow in his eyes fades slightly, and Keith can see Lance’s beautiful blue ones instead. “Keith?” comes his scared voice, no longer mutilated from whoever is trying to control him.

“I’m here,” Keith says, bringing a hand up to his cheek. “I’m not leaving you.”

Lance opens his mouth to say something, but it snaps shut as his eyes turns yellow again.

“Pity he couldn’t stay longer, but I’m in a bit of a rush,” Lance says, his voice once again slightly changed. “Now where were we? Ah yes we were just-“

There’s a clang at the door, as if someone is trying to open it. They can both here Shiro’s muffled orders at the rest of the team. Lance frowns at the door. “So they’ve finally shown up? The team would show up to save you, but not me? Typical.”

“Lance, it’s not like that and you know it,” Keith urges.

“Do I? I’ve been here for phoebes. Do you even know what they did?” Lance cries at him, thing his spare hand in the air for emphasis. “I tried  so _hard_ to hold onto the idea that you guys would come. It was the last thing that kept me going. I- I gave up on that though.”

Keith could see the sadness in his eyes, and knew that even through this - whatever this was - Lance was still there, somewhere. 

“I’m sorry, I really am. But we never gave up on you. We kept on trying to find you. We knew that you were strong enough and would fight whatever they threw at you. And I need you to do that one last time. Please. For me, Sharpshooter. I need you to fight this for me. I know you can.”

There was slight wavering in the yellow of the eyes, slight recognition at the words he spoke.

“I need you to come back so I- so I can tell you that I... I love you. So please, come back to me,” Keith says, and at that point he’s almost pleading.

Lance’s eyes widen in shock and the yellow starts to waver, ocean eyes coming into view. The sword at his throat wavers. He thinks Lance is breaking through, thinks he’s winning whatever mental fight is going on.

Then there’s a slam at the door and the yellow is back in full force. “It’s a bit too late for that, isn’t it?” he asks, “I already told you, that won’t work.”

“No, but it was a pretty good distraction,” Keith smirks. He reaches around Lance and quickly grabs his bayard, not bothering to transform it as he whacks Lance across the head. Lance’s eyes slowly fade back and forth from yellow and blue, before they close completely and Lance slumps into Keith. 

“It’s alright Sharpshooter,” Keith says quietly, picking him up as he leaves the cell. He shoves his helmet on with one hand. “Coran, get a pod ready if possible. Lance... isn’t in a good shape.”

*~*~*

The paladins gather around the healing pod, all partaking in a whispered conversation.

“You sure whoever was controlling Lance is gone?” Shiro asks Keith.

“No, but at least if it’s still there we can keep him in a cryopod until we find a way to get rid of it,” Keith says, looking over slightly at the boy in pod. “And, even if they’re gone, Lance won’t be okay.”

Shiro put a comforting hand Keith’s shoulder, hearing the worry in his voice. “We know. And we’ll be here for him whenever he needs us.”

_ Would he tell us if he did need help though?  _ Keith couldn’t help wonder. From what Lance had said during their fight, it seemed that Lance didn’t think they’d take him seriously. He might not tell them even if he wanted to.

The whoosh of the healing pod opening bread Keith from his thoughts, and he rushes to catch Lance as he falls. Lance groans as his eyes flutter open and, to Keith’s delight, beautiful blues stare up at him.

“Where are we?” Lance asks groggily, standing up.

“You were just in a healing pod. How are you feeling?” Shiro asks, walking towards them.

“Sore. Tired,” Lance replies, taking a hand through his hair. He looks over at Keith and a guilty look passes over his face. “Can I... talk to Keith for a bit? Alone?”

Shiro looks between the two before nodding. “Sure,” he says, herding the rest of the team out of the room. 

Keith and Lance look at each for a bit, both unsure what to say.

“I’m sorry,” the both blurt out, then look at each other incredulously.

“Why are you sorry?” Lance asks. 

Keith. “If anyone should be apologising, it’s me. I mean, I cut your arm, and held a sword to your throat. All you did was save me from being mind controlled for the rest of my life.”

“I still fought you, I shouldn’t have-“

“Don’t.” Lance interrupts, placing a finger on his lips. “You did all that you could’ve.”

They fade info silence before Keith asks the question that had been weighing in him for a while. “Do you- do you remember what happened?”

Lance thought it over for a second. “Not really. I remember vague feelings, I guess. Like anger.... sadness. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Keith lies. He can’t tell Lance about what he said, no matter how much he wants to.

“Oh,” Lance says, and he almost sounds disappointed. They plunge into silence before Lance let’s out a yawn, and stretches his arms above his head. “I should probably head to sleep. Tell Hunk to wake me for dinner.”

Keith nods, and walks with him to the door. Just before it can slide open, Lance leans over and kisses him on the cheek. 

“And, sorry for throwing you into a wall. It looked sore.”

Keith blushes slightly as Lance walks away to his room.

“What the quiznak?”


	18. Birthday Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team hold a surprise party for Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is my fav, so I had to, sorry not sorry

Lance banged his fists against the door. “Guys, let me out! C’mon!”

“Sorry, buddy, no can do. You’ll have to wait a bit. It’s almost ready,” Hunk called through to him.

“What is almost ready?” He asked angrily, giving up on pounding at the door.

“It’s a secret,” is all Hunk said. Lance heard Hunks retreating footsteps and groaned in frustration, letting his head bang against the metal door. 

It was getting ridiculous. He woke up this morning, and tried to leave his room for breakfast, but the door wouldn’t open. When he asked for help, they just said they’d let him out later, and left him to suffer. The only reason Hunk has come by was to make sure he hadn’t died yet.

He heard footsteps and someone stopped outside his door. “So, how are you doing?” came the all too familiar voice of his boyfriend. 

“Horrible, Keith. How d’you think?” Lance complained. Keith snickered in response.

“I think you’ll thank us later.”

“How do you know?” Lance exclaimed, waving his hands around. “You won’t even tell me what’s going on, and I hate being out of the loop, you  _ know _ this. Why the quiznak would I like this?!”

“Just trust me, okay?” is all Keith said. “I’m pretty sure you’ll like what we have planned.”

“I’d like it a lot more if you told me,” Lance grumbled under his breath, although apparently Keith heard him all the same

“Calm down, you baby, you won’t be in for too long. Then you get to see the surprise.”

Lance groaned once again, when he heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

“Yes, I know, don’t worry,” Keith shouted back at the person. There was the muffled voice again before Keith shouted back, but Lance got bored of listening. He looked around his room for something to do when the door behind him whooshed open and hands - probably Keith’s- grabbed him from behind, one of them going to his hip, the other covering his eyes. 

“What the quiznak?” Lance shouted.

“We can’t have you peaking and ruining the surprise. Now come on,” Keith said, pushing him in some direction. They walked for a bit before one final door opened and Keith took his hand off Lance’s eyes. 

They were in the kitchen, with all the paladins, Allura and Coran standing near the table. On the table there were multiple colourful boxes and what looked like cake. There were decorations hanging on the wall and ceiling. Lance narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“What’s going on?” he asked, eyeing the room.

“Do you know what day it is on Earth?” Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Lance gave her a flat look. “No. I stopped counting after a while. Why?”

“Well, I have - you’re welcome by the way - and today just so happens to be July 28,” Pidge said. Lance’s eyes widened as he finally put the pieces together.

“So, we decided it would be nice to celebrate your birthday,” Hunk finished. “Do you like it?”

They all looked at Lance expectantly, hopefully, but all he could do was stare back. He felt tears prick at the back of his eyes, and he rubbed them ferociously.

“You guys,” he said, smiling at them. Hunk, noticing the tears in the boy’s eyes, moved forward and scooped him into a hug, the rest of the team following soon after. “Thank you so much,” he whispered to the group.

Once Lance had calmed down from his tears (he had to assure them all that they were definitely  _ happy _ tears and not sad ones) they loved towards the boxes that Lance now realised we’re probably presents.

“Is there any particular order you want me to open them?” he asked, looking at his team. 

Hunk beamed as he passed him a small box wrapped in blue paper. “Here, open it first.”

Lance smiled at his best friend as he opened the gift, being careful as to not rip the paper too much (much to the annoyance of his team members). It was a box of something similar to nail polish, 3 different shades of blue, and one with glitter. He smiled even wider and pulled his friend into a hug. “Thanks Hunk, I really love these.” 

“Of course buddy,” Hunk said, returningthe hug.

Pidge passed him a box wrapped in silver foil. He carefully unwrapped it (once again annoying his team) and found a set of headphones. “It’s so you stop using mine. I kind of need them sometimes,” Pidge stated, feigning annoyance (Lance could see right through it though). Lance smiled and pulled her in for a hug.

“Thanks Pidgey,” he said, earning a grumble of annoyance from them.

Allura handed him a blue, wooden box. He opened it and saw the motherload of face masks and scrubs. He stared at them in awe. “Where did you get all these?”

“I may have been asleep for 10,000 decaphoebes but I still know all the best shops in space, Lonce,” she reminded. He laughed a bit and pulled her in for a hug.

“Next time you come over, we’re using these,” he said, pulling away from the hug.

Allura smiled at that. Coran handed him a blue and white box, that he unwrapped with as much care as the others (Keith threatened to open it for him if he kept this up) and revealed some weird alien orb. Lance smiled at Coran, even though he had no idea what it was.

Coran must have noticed though, as he explained, “it’s a zanphone ball, capable of many spectacular things, each unique to the ball itself. You’ll have to mess around a bit to find out how it works.”

Lance smiled at the man, and gave him a small hug. “Thanks Coran.”

Shiro passed him a a small package, wrapped in blue, iridescent paper. He slowly unwrapped it - this time solely to annoy his teammates - and uncovered a video game Lance has eyes at the space mall.

“Woah, thanks Shiro,” he beamed, pulling the man into a hug. Pidge took this as an opportunity to grab the game from Lance’s hands and gawk at it. “Hey! Give it back!”

“I’m just looking,” Pidge said innocently. Lance rolled his eyes slightly, before turning to the last present on the table. It was a red envelope. Lance picked it up and opened it, slipping the card out. The front had a hand drawn load of bread, with the words ‘ _I loaf you_ ’  written on it. Lance snorted at the pun, looking up at Keith. 

“I thought we agreed being cheesy was my thing.”

Keith shrugged. “Some things change. I guess your rubbing off on me.”

Lance smiled and opened the card which read:

‘ _Happy Birthday, Daring. This isn’t your actual present, but I thought I’d give you something. I wrote a poem. for you:_

_ Roses are red, _

_ Violets are blue, _

_ And all I can say is _

_I love you_ ’

“Aww, babe. That’s cute. Cheesy as hell, but cute,” Lance cooed, kissing Keith in the cheek.

Keith lent forward slightly and whispered, “I look forward to giving you you’re actual present.”

Lance smiled at that, and was about to say something back when Hunk announces it was time for cake, and who was Lance to refuse?

*~*~*

When the cake was pretty much finished, Lance and Keith walked through the corridor to Keith’s room together, deciding to move Lance’s presents after Keith gave his. As soon as they got to Keith room, he turned to Lance.

“Do me a favour and close your eyes,” he said, and Lance willingly obeyed. There was the sound of shuffling and Keith moving around when he felt something slightly cold touch his neck. Lance wanted to open his eyes and see what was happening, but knew he shouldn’t.

“You can open your eyes now,” Keith said softly from behind him. Lance did and looked down at what Keith had placed. It was a silver necklace, with a small blue pendant on it. “I know it’s not a great present or whatever, and I know I’m terrible at giving gifts but-“ he was cut off with a kiss.

Lance pulled away and smiled at him. “I love it. Really. Anything that comes from you means the universe and more to me.”

Keith smiled and wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck.

“Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”


	19. I Told You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request from Lunista_lou. Hope you enjoy!!

The silence throughout the lions was cautious. There were no distractions, no obstacles. Nothing was stopping them from thinking about what had happened, how it could’ve all gone differently. 

“It’s no one’s fault,” Keith assured, finally breaking the silence. He knew they’d all be blaming themselves - hell, he was blaming himself - so it had to be said. “None of us could’ve seen it coming.”

The rest of the team hummed in reluctant agreement, but Lance couldn’t help the irritation that he felt.  _ He’d  _ seen this coming.  _ He’d  _ told them about his suspicions on both Lotor and Shiro, thought Keith leaving was a bad idea. Yet they still didn’t listen. He let out a slight groan, accidentally catching the attention of his team.

“You okay buddy?” Hunk asked, concern lacing his voice.

“Fine, just fine,” he responded bitterly, resisting the urge to cross his arms and pout. 

“Lance, just spit out. Something’s clearly bothering you,” Keith said, and Lance could hear the eye roll.

Lance sighed frustratedly. “You’re saying no one saw this coming, when I did. I told you guys that we shouldn’t have trusted Lotor! I told you that Shiro was being weird! I  _ told  _ you all, but you just ignored me! So maybe it is no one’s fault, but if you guys had just listened to me then things could’ve gone different!”

“Lance-“ Allura tried softly, but Lance wasn’t having it.

“No! Don’t! You guys never listen!  _ I told you _ and then you have the nerve to say that ‘no one could’ve seen it coming’! I told you I should’ve been the one to leave,” the last part was muttered, a vast contrast from the yelling beforehand, and Keith knew it was aimed at him. Lance sighed in defeat. “I’m turning off comms.”

“Lance?” Hunk tried, but there was nothing, not even breathing. He really had turned them off.

“Lance, you’re right,” Allura started calmly. “I’m sorry that I ignored you, and I’m sure the others are too, right?”

The others agreed with her immediately. “We should have listened, and then we would at least have had more of a warning.”

There was silence from the other end, but no one made any comments about it. If Lance wasn’t ready to talk, then they wouldn’t force him to. They could wait.

Lance curled up in his lion, letting the silence of the space around him wash over him. His breaths were shakey, hands clenching as he tried to hold back sobs. He knew he shouldn’t be this upset over something so trivial, knew he should be more grateful that they’d survived, but it was just too much. 

_ Maybe I’m too much _ , he thought, a sob catching in his throat.  _Or maybe I’m... not enough. That’s why they don’t listen, because I’m not serious enough. I’m too immature, too childish._

His breathing was becoming erratic. He felt the tears sting the back of his eyes and knew there was no stopping them, letting them roll down his cheeks.

_ Pathetic. Crying like this, it’s not even that bad. You had it coming. You should’ve just- _

“Lance?” a familiar voice cut through his thoughts. Footsteps came towards him and the black paladin crouched down in front him. Lance tried to cover his face with his hand, refusing to let his team leader see him like this, but the hand was quickly pulled away, replaced by a cooler hand on his cheek.

“Look at me, Lance. Just breathe.” Keith ribbed a finger gently against his cheek. “I’ve got you. I’m not leaving I promise.”

Lance couldn’t help himself as he threw his hands around Keith’s neck, pulling the paladin closer. Keith could feel Lance trembling against him.

“Look, I know I’m not good at this,” Keith started awkwardly. “I’m pretty sure it’s because of my Galra genes. But, you can talk to me, or you can... whatever. I’m here for you okay, no matter what. I’ll always be there for you. And I may not have proved that in the past, but I’m willing to try now. So, talk to me. Please.”

Lance couldn’t. He knew he wouldn’t be able to. So he said nothing as he buried his head into Keith’s shoulder as Keith wrapped his arms around his waist. They slowly fell to the floor, Lance basically sitting on Keith’s lap.

“I’ve got you, Lance. I’ve always got you, I promise.” Keith repeated into his ear, running a hand up and down his back slowly.

Lance pulled his head away and looked at Keith, and the black paladin could finally see his tear stained face, eyes puffy from crying. Lance smiled softly at him as blue met purple. “Thank you, Keith. It- it means a lot.”

They looked at each other, neither daring to look away. Keith couldn’t help but admire Lance’s smile, even if it was small. It was one of his favourite things during the time in space, he had found. One of the only constants in this galactic war. No matter what happened, Lance always came out smiling. Even a little.

It made this all so much better.

Lance lifted a hand to Keith’s cheek, moving a strand of black hair from his face, keeping his hand there. Keith pulled Lance closer. The hand on his cheek felt new. It felt... nice. He never wanted it to leave. Never wanted this to end.

“Thanks for... checking up on me,” Lance said quietly, as if to not ruin the moment.

Keith just stared for a moment, stuck in those blue eyes, before realising he should probably respond. “Of course, why wouldn’t I? I mean we’re teammates. And friends so of course I would-”

Lance just smiled as the boy started to ramble, almost laughing at how out of character that was. Lance pressed a kiss to Keith’s lips, causing the boy to falter. He pulled away quickly.

“Wait, what?” Keith asked suddenly, snapping from whatever... that was. “Did you just-“

Lance frowned. “I probably shouldn’t have. I just- I don’t know - it seemed right? I guess? I don’t know. Just, forget what happened.”

Lance was about to stand up when Keith tugged him back down so that their faces were closer than before. It was a split second decision, what Keith was known for. He smiled at the blue paladin, watching the uncertainty wash away from his face.

“But what if I don’t want to?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that!!! Stay safe y’all


	20. I Just Want to Dance With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dance between the prince and his lover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s officially one year since I finished voltron (and cried over Allura’s death). Enjoy the fic 💜

The hall was full of people in suits and dresses mingling together, speaking and laughing loudly. There were tables set around the edge of the room and a large dance floor in the middle. The large doors opened and a royal servant came through. “Presenting His Majesty the King, and his son, Prince Lance of Altea.”

The two walked down the stairs elegantly, as if they were floating. Lance was in his usual blue and white suit, with accents of gold. People bowed as he passed, and he bowed back respectfully, but payed them no extra mind. He had his eyes on someone else.

Said person was standing awkwardly at a table with various Altean dishes (they were all disgusting in his mind but what did he know) waiting for the prince to come.

He turned and caught the prince’s eye, smiling softly in a way he only did with Lance. The prince sped up towards him, and it took all his strength to refrain from hugging the Galra. Instead he placed his hand on the Galra’s elbow in greeting.

“So, Mullet, what’s your opinion on Altean food? Amazing, right?”

Keith shrugged, “it’s pretty bad.”

“What?” Lance almost shrieked, drawing attention. “How can you say that?!”

Keith held up his hands defensively. “I just don’t see the appeal. It’s edible, but food on Daibazaal is a lot better.”

Lance raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “I’m not sure I completely believe you, love. But, I’ll take your word for it.”

“Maybe some time you could come to Daibazaal so I could prove it,” Keith suggested, and Lance tensed. It was an offhand comment, it didn’t mean anything, but they both knew he couldn’t. 

“Keith-“

“Oh, quiznak, no, I didn’t mean it like that.” Keith hesitated. “But, the offer still stands. You know that, right?”

“Keith-“ Lance attempted to interrupt, but Keith keeps going.

“Shiro and Adam would love to have you stay over-“

“Keith-“

“Or, we don’t even have to stay with them. We could fly off-“

“Keith!” Lance interrupted. There’s a hopeful gleem in Keith’s eye, one Lance has only ever seen once before

“Anywhere you want, darling. As long as I’m with you, I wouldn’t care.”

And that statement is what set everything on a razors edge for Lance.

The choice between happiness and irreversible regret. The choice between what he wants, and what his people need. The choice between his love for Keith and his love for his people. 

Keith is giving him the choice. Is giving him options. His father isn’t.  _This war isn’t._

Lance frowned at that. No, this was his choice, and he chose to keep his people safe. He looked towards the floor, blinking a few times to stop the tears falling. “You know I can’t. And even if I could, I want this.”

“No.” Keith declared. “You want peace. Not an arranged marriage that we both know you’ll regret. There are so many other ways to make peace happen. You don’t have to sacrifice everything.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s hands, squeezing them between his own. Lance looked up and met his eyes, but the frown was still on his face. Everything Keith said was true, but treaties and agreements took time. This was the quick fix they needed.

Keith frowned at the sadness on Lance’s face and looked around the room, lighting up slightly when he finally found a way to cheer up the prince. “Would you care for this dance, Your Majesty?”

Lance smiled slightly at him and took his hand, letting Keith lead him to the dance floor as a familiar tune started. He placed his free hand on Keith’s waist, as Keith did the same but on his shoulder. They started the dance, twirling this way and that. 

“I know I’m asking a lot. But it’s obvious this is not what you want. And Allura could easily take over the throne. You and I could run away. We could be together.”

Keith twirls away from him before twirling back in, his back against Lance’s chest. “You know I can’t. That wouldn’t be fair to my people. As much as I hate this arrangement, it’s necessary.”

Keith twirls so that he is facing Lance again, and let’s Lance lead him through the dance, just like they had done many times before.

“No it isn’t. There are so many other ways to end a war peacefully. An arranged marriage is only one of them,” Keith repeated as they twirl.

Lance sighs. “I know, but it is the one that has been decided. I can’t change that.”

“Yes you can. I know you can Lance, they would listen to you.”

Lance thought about it as they danced. He knew what he wanted, and he knew it was possible. What was stopping him?

He looked at the man in front of him as they danced, meeting his enchanting, purple eyes. He smirked before lifting Keith in the air and spinning around, smiling wide at the face his lover made.

“We could run away?” he asked as he placed Keith down. “Change the fate they’ve decided.”

“No one would be able to keep us apart. No one would be able to say where we go or who we get to be. It would be perfect.”

Lance smiled lovingly at Keith. “It would.”

He could here the music coming to an end. He dipped Keith, making sure to keep a steady hand on his back. Keith smiled, looking into his eyes. Lance leaned closer, he was so close. Just a little close and-

He caught his father’s eye for the side of dance floor and saw it. The disappointment in his eyes. Lance frowned and moved away, pulling Keith up with him.

“I love you, Keith. And I would love to have that future. But, I can’t. My hands are tied.”

He bowed before waking off the dance floor and out the door.

Only then did he let the tears drip down his face. Only then did he let the facade slip.


	21. Just like fan fiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request for Quineon. The paladins discover fan fiction about themselves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I’m trying to recover from Banana Fish and school is kicking my butt.

The lounge is pretty much silent, apart front he usual hum of the machinery, as the paladins rest. It’s their day off from training, and they’re in a relatively peaceful part of the galaxy, so they aren’t expecting anything too bad to happen.

Lance lays his head on Keith’s thighs, letting his boyfriend run a hand through his hair. Keith looks down at him and smiled softly. He wishes they could stay in this peaceful moment forever.

Pidge lets out a snort from their seat in the lounge, eyes crinkling as they read something from their tablet. “You guys,” they say through their laughter, “people write fanfics about us.”

“What?!” Lance asks, shooting up and almost head butting Keith in the nose.

“Wait, seriously?” Hunk walks over to where Pidge is sitting and looks at the tablet. “Wow, I didn’t know people would do that.”

“I mean it makes sense, we are famous,” Pidge says. “But it is kind of weird reading how people think we act.”

“What exactly is fan fiction?” Allura asks. The paladins look at each other, mentally arguing over who has to tell her.

“It’s like... fiction written by fans of a TV show or, in this case, a group of famous people,” Shiro explains.

“Oh, Altea had something like that.”

“Wanna read some?” Pidge asks, raising an eyebrow mischievously. 

“I don-“

“Yes!” Lance butts in, sitting on the edge of his seat. Everyone looks at him. “What? I wanna know what people are writing.”

“Ok, fine. I suppose it could be fun,” Shiro caves, looking over to Pidge.

“Ok, let’s see. The first one. Ooh, this one is about Keith and Lance.”

Keith and Lance look at each other. “What do you mean?” Keith asks. 

“People ship you, that’s hilarious,” Pidge says, causing everyone but the two to laugh.

“But why?”

Everyone in the room raises an eyebrow at them. “You guys might  _ think _ your being subtle, but you’re not. Anyone with eyes could see that you guys are together,” Pidge explains.

“Honestly, I was convinced you guys had some kind of relationship in the Garrison. Most of the staff did,” Shiro shrugs, ignoring how Keith and Lance’s faces go red.

“To be fair, Lance did have a crush on Keith then,” Hunk blurts out. Lance looks at him incredulously.

“Hunk! Why would you say that?!” he shrieks. Hunk shrugs.

“It’s not like you have anything to be embarrassed about.”

Lance groans in frustration, hiding his face in his hands. “Let’s just see what this fanfic is about.”

Pidge clears their throat dramatically and started reading. They managed to make it through a few, every person in the room having been involved in at least one ship that had made the embarrassed.

“‘-Lance let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding-‘“ the whole team groans at hearing that phrase again, “‘-and leaned forward, putting his hand against Keith’s cheek. He pressed his lips against Keith’s, and sparks flew instantly. He pulled back and looked into Keith’s amethyst orbs. “Wow, Keith,” he said dreamily. “That was an amazing kiss.” Keith smirked and said “I can show you a lot more than a kiss.” Lance-‘“

“Okay,” Shiro interrupts. “I think that’s enough of that one. I don’t want to hear anymore. How about a movie.”

The rest of the group slowly agrees, moving out of the room, leaving only Keith and Lance and their flushed faces.

Keith was the first one to speak, “that was... weird.”

Lance hums in agreement. “Do people actually, like, think about that kind of stuff and us?”

Keith’s face darkens at the thought of what could’ve happened next had Shiro not stopped Pidge. “I think we should just... leave that stuff and never look at it.”

Lance watches as the door slides shut behind everyone else, turning to Keith with a smirk on his face.

“Hey Keith?”

Keith turns to him, an eyebrow raised in confusion. “Yeah?”

“Wanna finish that fic?”

“Lance,” Keith groans. Keith smacks the back of his lightly as Lance snorts out a laugh. 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he says between laughter. Keith just smiles down at the boy, watching him hide his face in his hands.

_ What am I going to do with him?  _ he thinks, unable to tear his eyes away from Lance.  _ Kissing him seems like a good place to start. _

Keith touches Lance’s cheek, gently guiding him closer. Lance’s face turns red as he gets closer, but his smile never wavers. Keith slowly presses his lips against Lance’s, relishing in the warm feeling.

They part slowly, and Lance smiles at him. “You know, in the fic we have to-“

Keith smacks his shoulder lightly, rolling his eyes. “I’m leaving.”

Lance tries to stop him as he gets up, but is too busy laughing to be any good at it. Keith takes one last look at Lance before walking out the door, letting it slide close behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that!!


	22. Lucida

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is weak willed when it comes to Lance’s smile, and Lance just wants to explore the galaxy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii, long time not see!! Hope y’all enjoy. This was slightly inspired by the song ‘Night Troubles’ by Petit Biscuit in a sort of way, in case you’re curious

Lance pulls his cloak further down on his head as he makes his way through the halls, making sure not to run into any guards on his way. He looks around a corner and sees the door to the hangar. 

_ Perfect, just a bit further,  _ he thinks. He looks both ways before running across the hallway and-

His hood is pulled off from behind and whoever had pulled it off used it to tug him backwards. “Going somewhere, Your Majesty?” a voice whispers in his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

“Keith?” Lance says, trying to lean against the wall casually (he fails). “What’s up?”

“Just noticing you leave. Can’t have that, can we, Your Highness?”

“Ugh, but-“ Lance starts, but Keith is already dragging him back to his room. “C’mon, man, I thought we were friends?!”

“Lance, as much as I love being your friend, being your bodyguard and protecting you from danger comes first,” Keith sighs, not looking at Lance.

“What kind of danger could I get myself into? I just wanted to-“

“To fly a ship, even though you don’t know how to fly,” Keith interrupts, clearly unimpressed.

“Well that’s on you guys. I asked to get flying lessons, but everyone said no, even father. What am I supposed to do?”

“Listen to what they say. They probably have a good reason.”

“I just want to see the stars, feel _free_ you know,” Lance murmurs, so quiet Keith almost didn’t hear it. Almost.

Keith turns to Lance. “You want to see the stars?” he asks. Lance nods, not quite meeting his gaze. Keith narrows his eyes in thought, analysing the prince in front of him. Usually the prince was so confident and self assured, but now the prince couldn’t even meet his eyes. “Fine,” Keith decides, causing Lance to look at him again. His head cocks to the side slightly and eyebrows furrow in confusion. He looks adorable.

“Huh?”

“If I... take you to see the stars, will you stop trying to sneak out?” Keith asks, trying to keep from blushing.

“Maybe,” Lance says. Keith raises an eyebrow expectantly and Lance sighs. “Fine, I will stop sneaking out-“

“Good.”

“For now,” Lance adds quickly. “I will stop sneaking out for now. I can’t promise anything after a phoebe.”

“Lance,” Keith warns.

Lance rolls his eyes. “Come on, Keith. You  _ know  _ me. You know that if I promise not to sneak out anymore, I’m just going to break that promise, and then you’ll be disappointed. Now can we please go see some stars?”

Lance gives Keith those round, puppy dog eyes, and Keith immediately knows he stands no chance. He may be the strongest fighter out there, but those eyes would forever make him weak. At least he could say he tried.

“Alright, let’s go,” he says, dragging the prince back the way they came. Lance beams at him, hurrying to keep the same pace. They find a shuttle and rush inside, keen to not get caught by any guards on night duty.

When the ship finally starts up, a voice sounds through the speaker. “What is your identification, and why are you taking an unauthorised trip.”

“This is Commander Keith Kogane, identification number 3462, I’m just taking a short trip to see the stars.”

There’s a slight hesitation, and for a moment Lance fears they’ve been caught. Keith would be in a lot of trouble if his father found out. He would as well, but he couldn’t exactly be fired from the royal family. Then the person speaks up. “Go ahead, Commander.”

“Thanks.” And with that they’re away, the hangar door opening wide and showing an inky black sky. As the city below them got further and further away, Lance started to notice them. Small glowing dots in the vast darkness. Stars.

“It gets better the further we go,” Keith comments, watching the prince’s face light up at that. “There’s a place Shiro used to take me, I want to take you there.”

Lance looks over at him, finding it surprisingly easy to tear his gaze from the stars and to his bodyguard. “You don’t have to. I know that place must be special to you, and I wouldn’t want to intrude. It’s-“

“Lance,” Keith cuts in, and Lance can’t help but notice the lack of title, “It’s fine. I want to take you, if you’ll let me.”

Lance smiles softly. “Thank you, Keith.”

Keith just turns away at that, focusing on flying, and Lance is grateful that he can’t see the way the marks on his cheeks glow ever so slightly. 

He stares out again, and this time there are a lot more stars. And massive clouds of colour. Nebulae covered large expanses of the space around them, their rainbow of colours forcing Lance to look at them, making him incapable of looking away.

Keith finally pulls to a stop, letting the ship land on a small dwarf planet on the outer parts of the system. It was always so peaceful here, reminding Keith of times before, when he was child. He grabs two helmets, making sure to give Lance one, and that he put it on properly. The prince dying in his custody would technically be treason of some sort. He jumps out the ship, holding out a hand for Lance to take as he steps out. They walk over and settle onto a small rock, the perfect place to see, well, everything. There was a moments silence, and Keith watched the prince take in everything around him, fondness making its way on his face.

“Holy quiznak,” Lance mutters, then turns to Keith with an incredulous look on his face. “You’re telling me that, whilst I was stuck in that stuffy palace, there was all this,” he gestures to everything around them, “all around us? And I just  wasn’t  allowed to look?”

Keith smirks slightly at the prince’s agitation, finding it oddly endearing. “‘Fraid so, Lance.”

“Why? What could be so horrible about this place that father would simply  ban me from seeing it. The is the most amazing thing ever. I mean, look at this.  _ Look _ at it. I- I’ve missed so much. I can’t- I-“

“Hey.” There’s a hand on Lance’s shoulder, and he glances over to see Keith giving him a soft, comforting look. “Its okay. Maybe you have missed a lot, but I promise that I’ll show you the whole universe, even more. I promise.”

Lance smiles at him, and Keith feels something stir deep within him. Yes, he would go to the edges of the universe, because that smile was worth it. So very, _very_ worth


	23. He’s full of surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Yuri On Ice AU because I’m weak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about figure skating, so if anything’s wrong or doesn’t make sense pls correct me

Keith has next to no tolerance for the cold. One would think, after ice skating for so long, that he would be immune to it, but no. He could go out in four layers of clothes and still complain about how cold it was. So it’s extremely surprising that Keith isn’t complaining about the temperature. It isn’t entirely his fault, to be fair. He’s too distracted. The boy on the ice is just too mesmerising.

He’s been coaching Lance for a few months now, and he keeps on surprising Keith. Keeps on pushing himself to new levels, skating in ways Keith has never seen him do before. Today isn’t any different.

Before the skate, Lance had been nervous to the point of breaking down. In all honesty, Keith feels he should’ve been prepared for that, it was common knowledge that it often happened. But that’s in the past, what matters now is that Lance was skating better than Keith thought he would. He is beautiful.

If Keith had been in the right state of mind, if he had been really focusing on Lance’s skating like he should’ve been, he would’ve made a note to tell Lance that he under rotated his Salchow, and the speed could’ve been more controlled, but Keith can’t. All he can do is stare in awe as Lance moves with the music, making it completely his own.

“For his final jump he’s planned a triple toe loop,” the announcer states, and Keith watches him carefully. Most skaters would be showing at least some signs of fatigue, but not Lance. It’s like some sort of gift.

He watches as Lance rises into the air with grace, but can’t stop his jaw dropping as it happened.  _ He changed it from a toe loop to- _

“-a quadruple flip!” the announcer exclaims, voicing all the surprise Keith currently feels. He can see the shocked faces of everyone around the arena. “The quadruple flip was the signature move of his coach, Keith Kogane.”

Keith’s eyes widen.The landing is all wrong, but not even he ever tried to do one this far in. 

“ _ This _ is skater that keeps on surprising us!” the announcer yells as Lance finishes his final spin, voicing Keith’s very thought. Lance is... amazing. Keith had always strived to surprise his audience, and it was amazing to see that mirrored in Lance.

He watches as Lance’s flushed face looks towards him, and he has to look away for a second. There’s something in his eyes that asks him a single question. 

‘Was I good enough for you?’ 

Keith already has his answer. It felt so blindingly obvious to him now. And as Keith feels himself run to the gate where Lance is to get off the ice, he decides that today was the day. No more waiting for some sort of epiphany when everything is so obvious.

“How was I Keith?” Lance asks, and though to everyone else he may seem confident, Keith knows he was nervously waiting for Keith’s opinion.

Keith just sweeps his hair from his face and smiles at Lance, and that is all the confirmation he needs to come skating towards Keith, completely confident. But, just as he’s getting closer to the gate, Keith throws himself at Lance, throwing caution to the wind. Honestly, he doesn’t see it coming, but Keith is nothing if not impulsive. So when his lips meet Lance’s midair, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

He watches as Lance’s brilliant blue eyes widen as they fall together. Keith winces as Lance hits the ice with a thump, almost moving away to check that he’s okay. But Lance just pulls him closer, letting their lips meet again. It’s so easy to forget that Lance can be just as impulsive as himself. But, as he kisses Lance with a burning love he’d never truly felt until now, he realises that that is what he loves most about Lance. What started this whole thing in the first place.

He never stopped surprising Keith. 


	24. My Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A late birthday fic for Keith!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this yesterday, but kinda forgot so... anyways, hope you enjoy

Keith woke up to a weirdly silent house. He couldn’t hear the soft snores of his boyfriend, nor could he hear movement from downstairs. He was confused, not used to the silence. Lance was loud, to the point where it had become a part of their household. So, the noise not being there made him cautious. Deep down he knew there’s nothing amiss, but old habits die hard. He checked his phone and saw a message from Lance. Everything was fine.

** Lance: Hey, had to leave early. There was meeting off planet, not too far but I probably won’t be back anytime soon so don’t wait up xx **

He sighed and looked at the time, guessing it was a good time to start getting ready for the day. It was technically his day off, but Shiro asked if he could give a lecture to some of the students at the Garrison, and how could he refuse? He didn’t mind teaching the kids.

He packed a bag for the day, just with a few basic things, and left, grabbing an apple on the way out. 

It wasn’t a long drive to the Garrison, but it felt weird not to be doing it with Lance. Usually he’d be singing along with the music, probably drumming his hands against the steering wheel if he was driving, but he wasn’t there to fill the silence. Keith just let the radio play, occasionally humming along to the tune.

Once at the Garrison, the day seemed to go by quite quickly. He only had to stay there for the hour long lesson, but decided he would go around and see how everyone was doing. He stopped by Shiro’s office, not even bothering to knock on the door.

“Keith, please knock. I could’ve had someone over,” Shiro reprimanded him, but he just waved it off

“The only person you would have over is Adam, so I wasn’t too worried. You got any plans for tonight.”

Shiro shook his head. “Nope, just a night in. It would be date night but Adam had to cancel last minute, had tons of assignments to mark.”

Keith nodded, “well, Lance is away for the night, so maybe we could catch up. Order pizza and watch that film you won’t shut up about.”

Shiro looked like he was about to nod, but his eyes widened. “Nope, sorry. I’m busy, yep very busy.”

“You just said you were free,” Keith asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Well, I’m not,” Shiro seemed to rush towards the door. “Lots of homeworks to mark, and grades to give, so I best be off. Bye.”

He ran out the room, and Keith couldn’t help as something close to nervousness washed through him. “He... doesn’t teach any classes...”

*~*~*

Hunk and Pidge were his next option. If he couldn’t see Shiro or Lance, he could at least hang out with half of Voltron. He walked into the lab and towards Hunk, who was fiddling with some device.

“Hey, Hunk,” he said, and raised an eyebrow when said man flinched.

He laughed nervously when he saw Keith, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh. Hey Keith.”

“Are- are you okay? You seem kind of-“

“I’m fine,” he cut in quickly. “Just really invested in this.” He gestured towards whatever he was fiddling with.

“Oh,” Keith said, though he wasn’t entirely convinced. “What... what is it?”

Hunk beamed, and started gushing about his latest engineering feat. Keith nodded along and answered accordingly, but he didn’t entirely understand what Hunk was talking about. Engineering had never been his forte. “Sounds cool. Do you know why Shiro’s acting weird?”

Hunk seemed caught off guard at that. “Is he- I mean, I haven’t seen him all day and- well you know how it is on a monday. Everyone’s busy and Shiro teaches  a _lot_ of classes so-“

“Shirk doesn’t teach any classes, remember. He took the time away to recuperate.”

“Uh- oh look, there’s Pidge. Maybe she can answer your questions.” And with that Hunk turned away from him, back to fiddling with whatever device it was. Now Keith was really concerned.

He looked in the general direction hunk had been looking, and spotted Pidge typing furiously in her computer. He walked towards her, but before he could even wave, she dismissed him with a wave of her hand and a bored “working”. Keith could tell he wasn’t wanted.

He walked out the lab and through the corridors. Maybe he would just have to go home and do nothing all day. It wasn’t the worst idea, and he wasn’t completely against it but-

“Oh, Keith. There you are,” a voice called form behind him. He turned around.

“Adam?” Maybe he could help, I mean no one knew Shiro better than his fiancé-turned-boyfriend-but-soon-to-be-fiancé-again. “Shiro’s acting weird, why?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “He is? When I saw him he was fine. A little ramble-y, but nothing too uncommon.”

“He brushed me off... to mark assignment he doesn’t have,” Keith pointed out. Adam thought about it.

“Maybe it’s just one of his off days,” he suggested.

“No, it can’t be because it’s not just him. Hunk was acting weirdly nervous, and when I tried to ask him about Shiro, he just brushed me off. Hunk doesn’t brush people off like that. And Pidge was dismissive, unusually so.”

Adam thought about it. “I mean, knowing ‘Kashi, he’s probably hiding something. So, they’re probably all in on some big secret.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, now I just want to know what.”

“Maybe it’s best not to. Now, as thanks, you can help me with work.”

Keith let a small groan slip through, and Adam laughed, leading him to his classroom.

*~*~*

It was late by the time Adam let him leave, not that he was complaining. He didn’t mind having something to do that day, and talking to Adam filled up the silence he’d been trying to avoid. So, it all turned out okay.

He put his key in the lock and was going to turn it, only to find that the door slid open as soon as he pushed on it. Immediately, Keith went on the defensive, prepared to be ambushed by some intruders. The lights were off, and there didn’t seem to be any noise, but this was a different silence. The type that makes it seem like someone is holding their breath, waiting in anticipation. He narrowed his eyes, curing that he never got the Galran’s “night vision” trait that his mother had. Stupid human eyes.

Slowly, he reached for the light switch, preparing to attack as soon as-

“SURPRISE!”

Keith jumped as people jumped out from behind sofas and tables, all yelling at him. “What the-“

“Happy birthday, baby,” came a voice from behind him. A voice he knew so well. He turned around and wrapped the man behind him in a tight embrace.

“Lance?” he muttered. “I thought you had to go off planet.”

Lance grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “I may have lied.”

“Why though? What  _ is _ all this?”

“I wanted to do something nice for your birthday, so I thought what better than to get all our friends and surprise you.”

Keith looked around and realised that Lance wasn’t joking when he said all their friends. People from both and space were gathered in their tiny living room, and Keith could help but smile at them all. “Now, let’s get started!”

The night went on, with gifts and cake handed out, and time passed so quickly that before he knew, people were starting to leave. Lance turned to him and told him that there was just one more thing to do, and that he’s do it all once everyone has left.

Once the final people had gone, and the house was calm again, Lance turned to him. “Hey, mi vida, I need you to close your eyes for a second. Just so I can get your present ready.”

Keith raised an eyebrow, but obliged, listening to Lance flutter around the room. Finally, the noise stopped and Lance said, “you can open your eyes now.”

Keith did, and saw Lance down, on one knee, with an open box in hand. Keith’s eyes widened, and he could feel his eyes sting with tears.

“Keith, I love you so much. More than I ever thought I could. We’ve been through so much together, and I’m glad that it all brought us closer. You mean the world to me, cariño, and I mean it when I say I would do  _ anything _ for you. When we spoke about all this, and us getting married, I knew immediately that this is what I wanted. A future with you, a future loving you, and, hopefully, a future where you’re loving me. So, Keith Kogane, will you marry me?”

Keith felt tears brim in his eyes as he smiled widely and he knelt down next to Lance, holding the man’s cheeks in his hands. “Of course. I love you too, Lance.”

Lance pulled him closer, letting their lips meet. When they pulled away, Lance slid the ring on his finger, and kissed it gently. “I always knew you’d be my future.”


	25. A little announcement

Ok, first off, sorry for being inactive lately I have a load of exams coming up and I haven’t really had time to write. They’ll be over soon and (hopefully) I’ll be back to updating semi-regularly (or at least as regularly as I have been).

Second, I’ve decided to start doing these as individual one-shots, like on their own if that makes sense??? Just because I think it’d be easier to tag them properly if they were. So, that’s that. I’ll probably have something out soon (I just have to re read and stuff), if you’re wondering. But, yeah. So, goodbye to this book, I guess.

Hope y’all are okay and staying safe 💜


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